THOMAS HARDY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1186, 22 July 1911, Page 9

THOMAS HARDY.

Reviewing a study of Thomas Hardy by ii French writer, Dr. Hcdgcock, Mr. Edmund Cios>o in the "Morning Post" lays stress on an insufficiently considered fact of Hardv's work.

The only extended study of the work of 111 , . Hardy which can be compared with Dr. Ilcdgrnck's (Mr. G"s<o points out) is that published by tho late Lionel .lo'hnson. This monograph) which appeared so 10113 ago 1891, was n work of grot refinement and penetration, but it laboured under Ihe disadvantage of behix pveinsiture. Not only had Lionel Johnson not seen the later novels nor "The Dynast?," hut ho ivaSunacquainUd with (he lyrical and narrative poems which form j.n important a part of Mr. Hardy's carl.y" work, 'i'heio were unknown and . unsuspected until the publication of "Wof-ox Poems" in 18!) S. Ileing far better equipped in his acquaintance with the development of Jlr. Hardy's Renins than his most di>tingnisliecl ■ predecessor, Dr. lledgcock due prominence to the verses written, as we now know, between ISGS and 1870. though not published until nearly thirty years later. These poems form the earliest surviving section of 'Jlr. Hardy's work, since the series of his novels opens with "Desperate Remedies" in IS7I. The i'rench bin[;rapher tins been, we believe, the critic, to perceive the very great importance of the "Wess:x Fccms' , iu

(ho history of Mr. Hardy's mind. They Rive us tile carliesc intimations of tue way in which the two main objects of his curiosity, his own individuality and the mystery of human existence, acted-upon his temperament as an artist at the beginning; just as we see in "The Dynasts" the final results of precisely the same methods of imaginative investigation. In fact, to undertake Hie study »f Mr.- Hardy as a novelist, without proper consideration of his claims as a poet and n dramatist, is imperfect and unsatisfactory, and must in future be abandoned.

The technique of Mr. Hardy's poems is highly interesting to students of poetic art: It is known to have greatly attracted Swinburne, who was so learned a metrist, and whose own system of prosody dilfered so entirely from Mr. [tardy 's. In the. latter the lark-like or nightingale-like cf--llucnce of smooth and irresistible song is absent. There is, on the contrary, the evidence of extreme effort; tho poem hns not come because it must, but because tho poet, by a concentration of will, determined that it should. He has set before himself at starting a certain mood, a certain form, which are to coalesce in a work of lyrical art. If they are. disinclined to do so, if language is restive, the. poet exercises his authority and forces them into harmonious expression. In weaker 'nanus than his this system of writing is apt to eud in failure; language and metro prove too strong for (he author. But,' in tho poetrv of Mr. Hardy, what is very curious is that he succeeds; the thought does uot flow in molten redundancy indeed, but it is hammered iulo beautiful form, as if against its will, and the result is equally admirable. Dr. Hedgcock is not carried away by a partisan enthusiasm for the subject of his memoir; he is able to see spots on the sun that illuminate him, and he is assiduous and capable in rendering justice to (he other writers of Mr. Hardy's age, with whom his acquaintance indeed is extraordinary. But he makes high claims •before the tribunal of Europe for the novelist of his predilection. In eousidering'Mr. Hardy Jie admits-no lesser rivals than Schopenhauer and Leonard!, Kenan and de Vigny. "As a. thinker he takes his place beside the great modern pessimists. . . .' c He has given to the philosophy of despair the finest expression that can be found in English literature." We' believe that tins is true; and if less than justice has been done in England to the work of the author of "The lictnrn of the Native" it is because of the incurably optimistic bias of the national temper.