Pessimism in the selected poems of Thomas Hardy

Abstract

The recurrent thought that good or positive will subdue and evil as well as negative will aggravate is known as pessimism. Thomas Hardy was trained as an architect but is famous as a poet and novelist of the Victorian Era (1837–1901). His view of life is mainly centred around this tendency. He has a different outlook towards life. He primarily focuses on the exposition of sufferings as his themes reflect. His main concern is to exhibit things in a miserable and pathetic state. He lost hope in life and thinks that the human condition will not improve. In his poems, death is not an escape from the weariness of life. This paper attempts to examine his pessimistic tendency by taking his few poems. His poems contain themes like death, loneliness, love and loss, war and its aftermath etc. Hardy's events of life also find space in his poems and play a very significant role in his pessimistic outlook. And especially the death of Emma shook him from the inside. He began his poetic career in 1898 with the publication of Wessex poems. Its setting is in the desolate and bleak landscape of Dorset. Until 1928, his death, he published eight volumes of poetry. He faces several bleak and pathetic conditions in his life like the Napoleonic Wars, World War, his near-death experience and most importantly death of Emma all contribute to his melancholic tone. The Victorian dilemma also touched his personality. However, his later poems exhibit a shift in his tone from melancholic to hopeful. In this article researcher has explored the pessimistic temperament in the selected poems of Thomas Hardy.