Thomas Hardy’s Re-configuration of Time as a Circle in Poems of 1912-13

Abstract

Thomas Hardy’s Re-configuration of Time as a Circle in Poems of 1912-13 Ye Sul Oh (Seoul Nat’l Univ.) Thomas Hardy’s first wife, Emma, inspired him the most when she died unexpectedly in November 1912. Through the sequence of elegies entitled Poems of 1912-13, the poet aligns himself with the historic lineage of elegists by inheriting their legacies and at the same time revises its generic conventions to secure his originality. Reading the sequence mainly through textual analysis and also by means of the author’s biography, this paper aims to illuminate how Hardy mourns the dead without relying too much on transcendental entities, those often used in the conventional elegies. Most importantly, it examines how the poet re-imagines the generic conception of elegiac time. Instead of overlapping the cyclical time of nature and the linearity of human life, Hardy blurs the boundaries of the sequential time frame. With this strategy, he creates a more unified perception of time as a kind of circle, which ultimately consolidates both his identities as a natural man and a poet. Reading these elegies while paying close attention to his project to rewrite the elegiac concept of time would reconfirm Hardy as the harbinger of the modern elegy. This, in turn, will enable the reader to turn their eyes towards the dynamic transformation of one of the most enduring genres of English poetry.