TIME IN THOMAS HARDY'S POETRY
It is no doubt that Thomas Hardy’s poems are haunted by the phantom of “times unflinching rigour”. The poems of 1912-1913 deals with some aspect of going back into the past, and speaking of the past in the present. Hardy uses time as a medium of going back, so that he can capture moments in the past that were special to him. In the poems “At Castle Boterel”, “The Haunter” and “The Shadow on the Stome” the readers are made aware of the journey motif. These three poems explores the journey back in the past, and it helps to bring out the poets intentions and reasons for writing them. There is also the idea of memory validating the past, that is what happened did happen and thereality of it survives in memory. This essay will show how Hardy uses time in the poems mentioned and how he overcomes this “times unflinching rigour”. The poems mentioned uses time for a specific reason, and they present some form of journey. The poem “At Castle Boterel” presents to the readers, with a persona’s journey through memory. This poem gives the account of a journey the persona takes, and during this journey he remembers and reminisces about past occurrence.