Thomas Hardy 's grief reminds me of his early work- A Pair of Blue Eyes. It may have had something to do with his first love, Emma. He might have changed the plot and the characters, but the twisted feelings experienced by the readers at the end are unmistakably his. Hardy's life had more downs than ups, as reflected in all his poetry and novels. It seems that he had never released himself from the cocoon of sufferings. In actual life Hardy was stubborn, and it is his stubbornness that had caused all his sufferings. He is not the only one, though. We are all victims of our own actions. Yes, framing words relating to grief in writing a poem is one constructive way to deal with losses. The result on writers has always been cathartic. However, I am not so convinced about Hardy. When Emma was alive he had never valued what she had done. It is only through her death that he came to realise how much he had hurt her. Hardy's poetry clearly expresses his regret, and it is this regret, in the form of a ghostly image that had accompanied him all his life till his death. I doubt if he could move on with life after coming up with those poems, but hopefully, through his death, he had won salvation and reunited with Emma through rebirth.
Thank you both for this discussion about grief. I must read more poetry to help me with my own recent losses.
Emma Gifford was a solicitor's daughter and was the sister-in-law of the Cornish vicar, Rev. Caddell Holder not the daughter.
Thomas Hardy 's grief reminds me of his early work- A Pair of Blue Eyes. It may have had something to do with his first love, Emma. He might have changed the plot and the characters, but the twisted feelings experienced by the readers at the end are unmistakably his.
Hardy's life had more downs than ups, as reflected in all his poetry and novels. It seems that he had never released himself from the cocoon of sufferings. In actual life Hardy was stubborn, and it is his stubbornness that had caused all his sufferings. He is not the only one, though. We are all victims of our own actions.
Yes, framing words relating to grief in writing a poem is one constructive way to deal with losses. The result on writers has always been cathartic.
However, I am not so convinced about Hardy. When Emma was alive he had never valued what she had done. It is only through her death that he came to realise how much he had hurt her.
Hardy's poetry clearly expresses his regret, and it is this regret, in the form of a ghostly image that had accompanied him all his life till his death. I doubt if he could move on with life after coming up with those poems, but hopefully, through his death, he had won salvation and reunited with Emma through rebirth.