Works of Thomas Hardy discussion

I idly cut a parsley stalk,
And blew therein towards the moon;
I had not thought what ghosts would walk
With shivering footsteps to my tune.

I went, and knelt, and scooped my hand
As if to drink, into the brook,
And a faint figure seemed to stand
Above me, with the bygone look.

I lipped rough rhymes of chance, not choice,
I thought not what my words might be;
There came into my ear a voice
That turned a tenderer verse for me.

This poem was published in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses. It is actually in my copy of one of Hardy’s Selected Poems, so this one can be said to make various anthologies.

I would like to add one more poem as a way of comparison for us.

Richard Wilbur was one of the great poets of the past century. He is one of Hardy’s poetic heirs. The literary critic Harold Bloom has written about the relationships between poems. In many poems, Bloom believes, a poet has read deeply into a precursor poet and greatly needs to break out on his own, but in such a way that extends and preserves the precursor.

Here is a poem entitled Hamlen Brook by Wilbur. I believe there is a relationship between the poems. Hardy is discovering in a quiet moment by a brook that poetic inspiration is real for him, albeit ghostly. Wilbur is discovering by a brook that he agrees with Hardy and has to figure out how to reap it. The ghost and the trout seem to be similar. Hardy’s is brief and fleeting, while Wilbur’s is a longer transparency. See what you think.

At the alder-darkened brink
Where the stream slows to a lucid jet
I lean to the water, dinting its top with sweat,
And see, before I can drink,

A startled inchling trout
Of spotted near-transparency,
Trawling a shadow solider than he.
He swerves now, darting out

To where, in a flicked slew
Of sparks and glittering silt, he weaves
Through stream-bed rocks, disturbing foundered leaves,
And butts then out of view

Beneath a sliding glass
Crazed by the skimming of a brace
Of burnished dragon-flies across its face,
In which deep cloudlets pass

And a white precipice
Of mirrored birch-trees plunges down
Toward where the azures of the zenith drown.
How shall I drink all this?

Joy’s trick is to supply
Dry lips with what can cool and slake,
Leaving them dumbstruck also with an ache
Nothing can satisfy.

Both poems are about the source of poetic inspiration, and they use the imagery of reflections in a brook. Hardy seems to have a ghostly muse, perhaps a former lover. Wilbur is also filled with poetic inspiration, although its source seems to be the joy he feels observing nature. The last stanzas of both poems are exceptionally beautiful.

They are both wonderful poems, John. I had a Poetry Appreciation teacher who loved Richard Wilbur's work so I'm enjoying reading his poetry again.

I clicked on the elite skills link you provided. The text of "On a Midsummer Eve" is at the top of the page, but the discussion on the poem by the two editors is about another poem starting with "When the hedgehog now . . ." Maybe Hardy wrote another poem with a similar name, but I can't find it when I google the first line.

Connie wrote: "Both poems are about the source of poetic inspiration, and they use the imagery of reflections in a brook. Hardy seems to have a ghostly muse, perhaps a former lover. Wilbur is also filled with poe..."

Thanks Connie for pointing that out. I think I may have juxtaposed two different links somehow. I edited it out and will see if I can find the right one to post.

Richard Wilbur is one of my favorite poets. I knew Hamlen Brook and was reminded of it when I read Hardy’s poem. On the surface, they may appear different, but I think a theme or sub theme is what can arise out of flowing water.

I find myself, because I love Harold Bloom, always looking for relationships between poems.

This is fascinating! Thank you both, for introducing me to a poet I did not know (perhaps largely because he is American) and I'm sure I would like 😊 Given the similar feel and subject of these poems, perhaps Thomas Hardy would have liked him too ... there does seem to be a connection, as you say.

Thomas Hardy died in 1928, when Richard Wilbur can only have been 7 years old.

(Now linked.)

Jean, yes, Wilbur is a great poet and enjoyable to read. Any of his books are good. As you pointed out, he did overlap briefly with Hardy and began publishing poems after his service in World War 2.

Thank you!

Enjoyed both poems, John, and can see the similarities. It is fascinating to hear almost two generations 'paint' poetic inspiration with almost the same brush. Both are beautiful.