The Poetry of Thomas Hardy

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Excerpt from the Thomas Hardy’s poetry has never lacked readers; but it still remains largely unknown to the reader familiar with his novels and is known only through anthologies to a more restricted group primarily interested in English literature. By this latter group he is often misunderstood; and for three the anomaly of his historical position, the lack of familiarity with his aesthetic, and an incomplete grasp of the scope of his subject matter. As a novelist his position is reasonably secure in the Victorian world; but no this position as a poet. That he bridges two worlds and belong wholly to neither partially explains the qualities of greatness or lack-of-greatness in his poetry.