I. Introduction:
“What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and in moving how express and admiable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals – and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”(1)
Throughout his work, Hardy seems to ask himself this question. Especially many of his late poems are dedicated to the question what the quintessence of dust, man, is in relation to nature, and to the elements he is composed of.
Pressing “against the limits of nineteenth century realist convention,”(2) Hardy’s concept of an essential identity of humanity and the rest of nature(3) enters into a new viewpoint that is incommensurate both to the realist approach to man and nature Hardy took in his novels, and to the Romantic approach that took the form of a “sentimental nature pantheism [which] was often made a surrogate for lost faith.”(4) The purpose of this paper will be an analysis of essential features in two poems by Thomas Hardy, “Voices of Things Growing in a Churchyard” and “Nature’s Questioning” that express Hardy’s concept of nature and its relationship to man, and a short comparison of these features with the concept of nature and human life expressed in Romantic poetry, most notably in Wordsworth’s poetry. The poems chosen here are the five “Lucy” poems written in Germany in 1799, which are fitting because they contain a combination of topics we can also encounter in Hardy’s poems: nature and man, and the unavoidable link of them by death, which indicates an overall equality of “this quintessence of dust” and the nature it derives its existence from.
[...]
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1 Hamlet, II,2 327-332.
2 Peter Widdowson: Thomas Hardy. Plymouth, 1996.
3 James O. Bailey: The Poetry of Thomas Hardy. University of North Carolina Press, 1970. p. 462. [...]
4 Edward Wagenknecht: “Art is Long and Time is Fleeting.” In: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [...]
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Argument
Research Goals and Themes
This paper aims to analyze how Thomas Hardy’s poetry conceptualizes nature and its relationship to humanity, particularly in contrast to the Romantic view exemplified by William Wordsworth. The research investigates the transition from the Romantic belief in a spirited, divine nature to a more mechanistic, scientific, and late-Victorian understanding, exploring how Hardy mediates these perspectives to find meaning in a potentially indifferent universe.
- Comparison between Romantic nature pantheism and late-Victorian scientific approaches.
- The concept of nature as a functional automaton versus a divine, spirited entity.
- The interpretation of nature in Thomas Hardy’s "Voices of Things Growing in a Churchyard."
- The influence of Romantic "Lucy" poems on Hardy’s thematic development.
- The role of the human mind in attributing meaning to a morally vacuous universe.
Excerpt from the Book
II. Argument:
As Jacques Choron formulates in his book Death and Western Thought, Romantic poets of the early nineteenth century give a totally new answer to the question of nature. Closely connected to the inquiry nature is the question of life and death. Life for the Romantics “was not necessarily bad, nor a ‘wrong,’ it was merely too narrow and empty compared with their vision of a higher or truer existence.” Schelling was one of the first who perceived this higher or truer existence as the “absorption into the Whole,” and identifying the greater whole as ensouled, living, and ruled by orderly interplay of its smaller parts, he concludes that it must be Nature itself.
This conviction of nature as a larger whole that slowly moves into Western thought as a replacement for the concept of a Christian deity is mirrored in the works of many writers of the period. Byron cherishes the thought of being part of a larger entity he identifies with nature: “Are not the mountains, waves, and skies, a part of me as I am of them?” Shelley, who is enthusiastic about the all-embracing power of nature as a whole, composes the following verses on the death of Keats:
He is made one with nature; there is heard
His voice in all her music, from the moan
Of thunder to the song of night’s sweet bird.
Summary of Chapters
I. Introduction: This chapter introduces the core inquiry into man's place in nature within Thomas Hardy's late poetry, establishing a foundation by comparing it to the Romantic pantheism of Wordsworth.
II. Argument: This section provides a detailed analysis of the shift from Romantic notions of a spirited, divine nature to Hardy’s more mechanistic and scientific view, utilizing his poem "Voices of Things Growing in a Churchyard" to illustrate this synthesis of thought.
Keywords
Thomas Hardy, Romanticism, William Wordsworth, Nature, Deism, Pantheism, Science, Humanism, Death, Afterlife, Victorian Literature, Philosophy, Automaton, Quintessence of Dust.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this academic work?
This work explores how Thomas Hardy’s late poetry reconstructs the concept of nature in response to the changing intellectual landscape of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, specifically contrasting it with the Romantic traditions of the past.
Which specific poets and works are analyzed?
The analysis focuses heavily on Thomas Hardy’s poems "Voices of Things Growing in a Churchyard" and "Nature’s Questioning," while comparing his views to William Wordsworth’s "Lucy" poems.
What is the central research question?
The study asks how humanity, defined as the "quintessence of dust," relates to nature, specifically investigating whether nature is a divine, spirited entity or an indifferent, mechanical automaton.
What methodological approach does the author use?
The author employs a comparative literary analysis, evaluating philosophical concepts of nature as presented in poetry against the historical backdrop of scientific advancements, such as Darwinian theory.
What topics are explored in the main body?
The body of the text covers the transformation of nature into a "language" in Romanticism, the conflict between scientific laws and personal spiritual yearnings, and the role of memory and death in Hardy's work.
Which keywords best characterize this study?
Key terms include Romanticism, Nature, Deism, Science, Thomas Hardy, William Wordsworth, Automaton, and The Ache of Modernism.
How does Hardy differ from the Romantic view of nature?
While Romantics like Wordsworth often attributed divine, spirited agency to nature, Hardy views nature as a vast, scientific automaton that operates without a mind, despite human attempts to project meaning onto it.
What role does the "human mind" play in Hardy's vision?
According to the author, the human mind is the essential factor that elevates existence above mechanical functioning, providing "meaning" to an otherwise morally vacuous universe by attributing "tempers" and "voices" to the natural world.
- Quote paper
- Silja Rübsamen (Author), 2001, Man and Nature - Constellations in Wordsworth and Hardy, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/3085
