The Poems of Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is best remembered as a great, late Victorian novelist with stories of the often tragic lives of ordinary people in the part of the south-west of England around the county of Dorset that he called Wessex. In the 1890s, due to hostility to some of his novels, he successfully changed genres and became a poet, with a compelling dark vision. At this meeting we will be reading nine of his poems: ‘Channel Firing’, ‘The Convergence of the Twain’, ‘The Darkling Thrush’, ‘During Wind and Rain’, ‘Hap’, ‘In Time of “The Breaking of Nations”’, ‘Neutral Tones’, ‘The Ruined Maid’ and ‘The Voice’.
All are welcome. Feel free to take part by joining in discussion or simply by listening to the proceedings. The texts of the poems can be found at the Poetry Foundation: **https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-hardy#tab-poems**