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Thomas HardyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Hap” by Thomas Hardy (1866)
In this early Hardy poem, we can see themes that would recur throughout his poetry. The speaker bemoans the “pain” (Line 14) of their life, wondering, “How arrives it joy lies slain, / And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?” (Lines 9-10). This contemplation of suffering echoes the subject matter of “The Convergence of the Twain,” in which a symbol of progress is destroyed by an iceberg shaped by an otherworldly force implied to be Fate’s vengeance.
“The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy (1900)
In one of Hardy’s most famous poems, the speaker surveys a bleak wintery landscape and feels its “growing gloom” (Line 24)—“The Century’s corpse outleant” (Line 10). Only the bird’s singing contains “some blessed Hope, whereof he knew / And I was unaware” (Lines 31-32). This negativity is echoed in “Convergence of the Twain,” which notes the same human blindness as “[n]o mortal eye could see / The intimate welding” (Lines 26-27) of the shipwreck.
“Where They Lived” by Thomas Hardy (1917)
This poem, published five years after “The Convergence of the Twain,” deals with another desolate landscape where living beings once were joined.
By Thomas Hardy
Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave
Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave
Thomas Hardy
At an Inn
At an Inn
Thomas Hardy
Channel Firing
Channel Firing
Thomas Hardy
Far From The Madding Crowd
Far From The Madding Crowd
Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
Neutral Tones
Neutral Tones
Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
The Darkling Thrush
The Darkling Thrush
Thomas Hardy
The Man He Killed
The Man He Killed
Thomas Hardy
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Thomas Hardy
The Return of the Native
The Return of the Native
Thomas Hardy
The Withered Arm and Other Stories
The Withered Arm and Other Stories
Thomas Hardy
The Woodlanders
The Woodlanders
Thomas Hardy