Selected Poems (Penguin Classics)

I commend this volume for three reasons. First and foremost for the 180 or so poems by Thomas Hardy (out of the approximately 950 he wrote). Among critics and self-professed serious students of English poetry, Hardy is often mildly disparaged as a poet. Yet among poets themselves, Hardy is/was admired and loved, even by "moderns" such as Pound, Jeffers, and Larkin. Two aspects of Hardy's poetry stand out. One is his adherence to rhyme and meter. But Hardy is marvelously creative and diverse in his use of meter, his rhyming patterns, and the structure of his poems. He relies heavily on good old Anglo-Saxon words (many monosyllabic) and constructions. For those, like me, who often are uncomfortable with the free form and discursiveness of much modern poetry, Hardy is a welcome alternative. (The majority of the poems in this selection are less than twenty lines; very few are more than fifty.) The other conspicuous characteristic of Hardy's poetry is the somber atmosphere. The most common themes are death, the passage of time, nostalgia and regret. His poems are simple (few annotations are needed to read and understand them); they are more emotional than intellectual, more concrete than abstract; and they are very personal. Ultimately, then, THOMAS HARDY: SELECTED POEMS demonstrates a high degree of poetic craftsmanship and discipline and it constitutes a very moving body of work. The second reason for commending this particular volume of Hardy's poems is Robert Mezey's Introduction and notes. At just over twenty pages, the Introduction is an ideal length. In it, Mezey succinctly makes his case for stating that "among the moderns", Hardy's "only peer is Frost and, perhaps, Yeats." One of the virtues of Hardy's poetry that Mezey identifies (and his selection confirms) is that with Hardy "the sense we get [is] that the moral and the aesthetic are rarely, if ever, separate things." The Introduction is learned, but it is not ivory tower: at one point Mezey compares a wonderful "song-like" rhyme in a Hardy poem with a rhyme from a Randy Travis song. Lastly, this volume stands out for me for what it revealed of Thomas Hardy himself, that he was very decent and very human. I occasionally indulge myself by fantasizing about what it might have been like to spend an evening with a famous writer: of all famous writers, Thomas Hardy is one of those I most would have liked to have done so, and who (I sense) would have genuinely, without condescension, been interested in me. One of several bonus features of the book is an Appendix containing miscellaneous comments Hardy made about poetry, writing, and life. Two of them seem worth sharing here: "The business of the poet and novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things, and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things." "Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art." After years - nay, decades - of reading only prose, I have resolved to expand my horizons (or, if you wish, deepen my soul) by reading poetry regularly - say about one book or collection each month. THOMAS HARDY: SELECTED POEMS proved to be an excellent beginning.

Thomas Hardy, is somewhat new for me, however after reading just a few poems I knew it was just right for what I had been looking for. No man can read Hardy's poems collected but that his own life, and forgotten moments of it, will not come back to him.

I have no idea what to do but I would like to thank Amazaon for having this book (Thomas Hardy Selected Poems) because I really need this book for my English Literature class since I'm taking the course for my A-levels!!!!

The introduction by Robert Mezey was expecially gratifying. This was the right quantity of poems to suit my interest. The format of the book was pleasing. Everything about the book and the anthology has the right feel about it to my taste.

Book arrived in great condition. Thank you!

Excellent selection as intro to Hardy's verse. Nice to go beyond the famous novels.

Indeed, for me, Thomas Hardy is one of the greatest British writers of all times and peoples. His prose is characterized by as penetrating realism. His poem is a beautiful melody of wounded heart. Aware of the fact that the Charter from the attacks of the burghers for the truth, which he showed in his novels, the writer decided to write poetry. These poems are very vital and deep in meaning. I will repeatedly go back to the works of Thomas Hardy to again and again plunge into the atmosphere of a true genius!

The formatting of the Kindle edition of this book is a disgrace. All the poems are left-aligned, regardless of the stanza forms. Penguin should be ashamed to charge nearly full price for such shoddy work. And it was impossible to have any warning of this, because the prreview available consisted only of the introduction to the book by Robert Mezey (an excellent introduction, by the way). Two free e-book editiions of Hardy's earlier poetry have far better formatting, even if they aren't perfect.

Very useful, thank you.

.... and this book is proof to it. For those who have only read his novels or not read him at all, this is a fun way to get begin with Hardy. I had ordered this book as part of research and I could find all the poems I was looking for. There is a costlier paperback of this book which perhaps has some more poems but as far as academic relevance is concerned, this is enough.

This was a useful collection of Hardy's verse in 1998 -- constrained by copyright from reproducing as many poems from the last two collections as the editor would have wished. The introduction is intelligent and thought-provoking. Unlike some other Hardy poem selections, the author's line divisions and stanza forms are generally accurately reproduced. As it stands (and in hard copy) it would merit 4 stars. But Penguin should cringe at having produced such a shoddy piece of work -- no active table of contents or active links from first line or title index -- why include them? The chronology suffers from technical problems -- much of it is virtually unreadable becaue of the minute type employed -- which cannot be remedied by using Kindle's resizing control. So for Kindle reader user-friendliness this merits a minus 1 star! Penguin should acknowledge that as this stands it's a rip-off and offer purchasers a refund or (better) a reformatted version. I can't understand how this slipped through since Penguin Kindle titles are normally amongst the best executed.