'Lovingkindness' and 'the lacking sense': Thomas Hardy and the poetry of change

Abstract

This thesis examines Hardy's poetry in the light of his meliorist beliefs, and attempts to refute the charge of pessimism by demonstrating that his poetry is not only an expression of his hopes for change, but also an instrument in his lifelong effort to help bring about changes for the better in the world he saw around him. The first chapter briefly examines the nature of Hardy's meliorism and its relationship to his aims and achievements as a poet. His poetry's emphasis on the cruelty of life's conditions is seen as evidence not of pessimism but of clearsighted realism. Nature's cruelty and callousness could, Hardy believed, be explained by her blindness; the 'Lacking Sense' of sight. Hardy hoped that, by taking a 'full look at the Worst', his poetry might help to foster enlightenment and compassion and destroy complacency in its readers, and might thus contribute to the evolution of human consciousness towards a greater degree of lovingkindness and altruism. In the following three chapters, three aspects of Hardy's poetry are discussed in order to demonstrate the ways in which his poetry embodies these beliefs and works to further these aims. The second chapter discusses the relationship, as expressed in Hardy's poetry, between man and the natural world, showing that his aim here was to demonstrate the interrelationship of all organic life, and to awaken our respect, sympathy, and sense of responsibility for all living creatures. Chapter Three deals with Hardy's war poems, and attempts to counter the claim that these poems demonstrate Hardy's final abandonment of his meliorist beliefs. Rather it is argued that, in keeping suffering constantly before our eyes, Hardy's aim is to sharpen our urge to fight it. These poems, far from expressing despair, affirm his belief in the power of individual men and women to endure and overcome evil, and to work for change. Chapter Four examines mainly those poems written in the first person in which the 'I' is the voice of a persona, not of the poet himself. It is suggested that this habitual use of the 'personative' form was an essential part of Hardy's effort to foster in his readers what he called the 'introspective faculty': the power of putting oneself in another's place. These poems aim to help us make the effort of imagination required to share in the sufferings of others, and thus to increase our desire to alleviate them. In thus making it impossible to ignore the world's ills, Hardy's aim is not to induce despair, but to inspire action, and thus to be part of the processes of change.