Thomas Hardy’s poems during the period of World War 1
(1914-1918) were predominantly, Emma poems. That is, they were poems written in
remembrance of his beloved wife, Emma, who died due to illness. In these poems
he is seen to try to come to terms with her death and we note that he is grief
stricken. He makes great use of memories to establish the change in
relationship between him and his wife during the later part of her life; to
remind himself of the happy times they had had together, to remind himself of
her beauty and grace which he fell in love with, or rather come to terms with
her death by trying to overcome his feelings of extreme guilt, pain and grief.
Through his poems, Hardy takes the reader back to the times when he and Emma
were young lovers and did not have a care in the world. The significance of the
memories is such that it allows the reader to gain an insight to the stages
that Emma and Hardy had to go through in their relationship. The memories
create a bittersweet and nostalgic feeling as the reader feels sympathetic
towards Hardy for the loss of happy times.
Some of the poems which highlight or refer to certain
moments or memories are, “The Walk”, “At Castle Boterel”, “The Voice” and “The
Haunter”. These poems creat an image of Emma of being young and beautiful and
shows the reader the depth of love which the two had for each other, yet was
unfortunately lost later on.
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