Wessex Poems and Other Verses

Poems by English writer Thomas Hardy

First edition cover

Wessex Poems and Other Verses (often referred to simply as Wessex Poems) is a collection of fifty-one poems set against the bleak and forbidding Dorset landscape by English writer Thomas Hardy. It was first published in London and New York in 1898 by Harper Brothers, and contained a number of illustrations by the author himself.

## Reception

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The collection met a broadly hostile reception, critics being accustomed to Hardy as a (controversial) writer of prose alone.[1] Hardy himself was taken aback by the failure to recognise his dry humour, as in the (slightly bawdy) 'Bride-Night Fire'.[2]

On a more personal note, his wife Emma disliked the section consisting of love lyrics to various recipients; and especially 'The Ivy Wife', which she felt aimed at her.[3]

## Notable poems

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Two notable early poems from the collection (1860s) were "Hap" and 'Amabel' - the latter exploring the theme of sexual attraction impacted by age taken up by The Well-Beloved.[4] 'She at His Funeral' was a tribute to Hardy's friend Horace Moule;[5] while the bitter "Neutral Tones" and the cheerful 'Sergeant's Song' show further aspects of Hardy's range of poetic subjects.[6]

## See also

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* 1898 in poetry
* Thomas Hardy's Wessex

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Wessex Poems and Other Verses

## References

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1. ^ M.Seymour-Smith, Thomas Hardy (London 1994) p. 637
2. ^ T & F. Hardy, Thomas Hardy (Ware 2007) p. 311
3. ^ M.Seymour-Smith, Thomas Hardy (London 1994) p. 561
4. ^ M.Seymour-Smith, Thomas Hardy (London 1994) p. 597
5. ^ M.Seymour-Smith, Thomas Hardy (London 1994) p. 177
6. ^ I. Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (Cambridge 1995) p. 1007

## External links

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* Wessex Poems and Other Verses at Project Gutenberg
* The complete Wessex Poems and Other Verses
* Wessex Poems public domain audiobook at LibriVox

* v
* t
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Thomas Hardy

Novels|

* The Poor Man and the Lady (1867)
* Desperate Remedies (1871)
* Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)
* A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)
* Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
* The Hand of Ethelberta (1876)
* The Return of the Native (1878)
* The Trumpet-Major (1880)
* A Laodicean (1881)
* Two on a Tower (1882)
* The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
* The Woodlanders (1887)
* Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891/92)
* Jude the Obscure (1895)
* The Well-Beloved (1897)

Short story collections|

* Wessex Tales (1888)
* A Group of Noble Dames (1891)
* Life's Little Ironies (1894)
* A Changed Man and Other Tales (1913)

Short stories|

* "The Three Strangers" (1883)
* "A Mere Interlude" (1885)
* "Alicia's Diary" (1887)
* "Barbara of the House of Grebe" (1891)
* "The Fiddler of the Reels" (1893)
* "A Tragedy of Two Ambitions" (1894)

Poetry collections|

* Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898)
* Poems of the Past and the Present (1901)
* Time's Laughingstocks (1909)
* Poems 1912–13
* Satires of Circumstance (1914)
* Moments of Vision (1917)
* Late Lyrics (1922)
* Human Shows (1925)
* Winter Words (1928)

Poems|

* "Neutral Tones" (1898)
* "The Darkling Thrush" (1900)
* "The Ruined Maid" (1901)
* "The Respectable Burgher" (1901)
* "The Man He Killed" (1902)
* "A Trampwoman's Tragedy" (1903)
* "The Convergence of the Twain" (1915)
* "The Blinded Bird" (1916)

Plays|

* The Dynasts (1904–1908)

Life|

* Thomas Hardy's Cottage
* Max Gate home
* Emma Gifford (first wife)
* Florence Dugdale (second wife)

Related|

* Thomas Hardy's Wessex
* Egdon Heath
* Winter Words (song cycle)

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