August 7, 2010

A Song for Saturday-- "The Dream Follower" by Thomas Hardy

I am currently plowing through the variorum edition of Thomas Hardy's poetry.  Out of 900+ poems, I am up to No. 220.  If you've read his novels or short stories, you simply must read his poetry, it is the bomb!  Reading this short one tonight, I simply felt compelled to share it.  It is a poem I think we can all actually relate to--

The Dream Follower

A Dream of mine flew over the mead
To the halls where my old Love reigns;
And it drew me on to follow its lead;
And I stood at her window-panes;

And I saw but a thing of flesh and bone
Speeding on to its cleft in the clay;
And my dream was scared, and expired on a moan,
And I whitely hastened away.

***

Now that'll make you think, eh?  It ain't pleasant, but we've all had dreams like this, haven't we?  Hardy just wrote 'em, we read 'em.  This is poem No. 108, in Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems, edited by James Gibson, 2001, published by Palgrave, 1003 pages.


Read some Hardy, it'll do you good!

4 comments:

  1. This is remarkable - and something I would not have found on my own. Any other advice to classic literature fans that don't enjoy 'modern' poetry?

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  2. I really like thIs one! Thank you for sharing. I must return to TH and try some his poetry.
    -Jay

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  3. Lovely poem. Thank you.

    I came over from What Red Read - she gave us both the Versatile Blogger Award! Anyhow, I just became a follower :)

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  4. My thanks to Spudz, Jay, and Brenna for your visits and lovely comments! I am finding that Hardy's poetry is every bit as powerful and emotional as his prose.

    Spudz, I am also a huge fan of the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Butler Yeats, and the great Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. I have the collected poems of each of these great poets.

    Cheers! Chris

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