Thomas Hardy

"My fellow-climber rises dim
From her chilly grave--"
(Hardy, pg 1079, from Logs on the Hearth)

I am forced to look at these lines in a dark and dim way. The poem is a display of sadness, but I also get a great sense of joy from it. Although Hardy is saddened by the loss of his sister, his words are strengthened by her memory. He paints a solid picture of age. He details the apple tree changing with time. He was able to watch that growth just as he watched the growth of his sister. It is clearly sad for him that her time passed by, but he seems to take pride in having been her brother. He points out that she stood beside him on the limb. I think this is his way of relating that she is still by his side (from the grave). He describes the tree having wounds that have healed with time just as he knows that his wounds will heal. His wife Emma had died three years before and it must have been an unwelcome, familiar feeling. I like that he ends the poem with a happy thought of her after throwing in those two dark lines.

"Just as she was, her foot near mine on the bending limb,
Laughing, her young brown hand awave."
(pg 1079)

I found Wessex Heights to be pretty dark throughout. It was actually a little creepy at times. When I read the lines about the ghosts, I start looking over my shoulder as I get the chills. He reminds of the kid from the Sixth Sense!

"There is one in the railway train whenever I do not want it near,
I see its profile against the pane, saying what I would not hear."
(pg 1074)

I don't know, but I think he may have the gift. Perhaps, it's just the gift for poetry. I feel sorry for him when he talks about the woman thinking, or not thinking, about him. He is so blunt about the issue. There is very little said, but it is clearly understood how they both feel.

"I enter her mind and another thought succeeds me that she prefers"
(pg 1074)

I feel sorry for him, but maybe if he wasn't so creepy with the ghost business things would be different!

I was not at all surprised to see another poem with another Epitaph. I love the first two lines of his, but I don't believe him.

"I never cared for Life; Life cared for me,
And hence I owed it some fidelity."
(pg 1079)

This is a man who obviously loved his sister. He remarried after his wife's death, which is actually a good sign to me. It means he loved his wife and marriage and doesn't want to be left alone. And of all things, he buried his heart with his first wife. A man who doesn't love life doesn't find that kind of love in it. So, I am not sure what he meant by his Epitaph, but I surely couldn't connect it to him like I could with the others (Keats, Coleridge...).