Thomas Hardy’s Optimism: Hope and Joy in Hardy’s Poetry
By:
Sign Up Now!
Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title.
Learn about membership options,
or view our freely available titles.
- Synopsis
- What do the works of Thomas Hardy offer us apart from tragedy? This book intends to answer that question, providing a groundbreaking reading of Hardy&’s poetry that reveals a hitherto critically neglected optimism. In doing so it seeks to challenge the dominant view of Hardy&’s work as pessimistic. It aims to demonstrate that Hardy&’s poetry contains a surprising amount of hope and joy which, when examined critically, reveals to us a new and brighter view of his philosophy. Hardy&’s poetry is naturally more condensed than his fiction, and his poems function as individual thought acts in which personal moments are more pronounced and sustained. These thought acts enable him to emphasise moods that are not merely pessimistic but joyous and hopeful. Such optimistic examples are not anomalies. Rather, pleasures such as dancing, music, eating and celebration perform a significant counterbalancing function across Hardy&’s collection of over 900 poems. In fully acknowledging these important brighter aspects, we can see Hardy&’s complex poetry as balancing an acute and profound understanding of life&’s hardships with an equally significant awareness and celebration of its pleasures.
- Copyright:
- 2025
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9783031952241
- Related ISBNs:
- 9783031952234
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature Switzerland
- Date of Addition:
- 10/02/25
- Copyrighted By:
- The Editor
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Poetry, Literature and Fiction, Language Arts
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.
Reviews
Other Books
- by Neil Addison
- in History
- in Poetry
- in Literature and Fiction
- in Language Arts