Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses

Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses is a collection of poems by English poet Thomas Hardy, and was published in 1922. While covering a typical (for Hardy) range of subjects - such as mismatchings, grotesqueries, and ironic memories - the poems generally take a musical shape, often remembering the past in ballad format.I. Ousby ed., The Cambridge Companion to Literature in English (CUP 1994) p. 531

Hardy's 'Apology' Hardy prefaced the collection with a self-styled Apology, beginning prosaically by reporting some half of the poems included as recent, the remainder as old,D. Wright ed, Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems (Penguin 1978) Appendix p. 442-3 but continuing with a broader defence of his poetic principles. Against charges of systematic pessimism, he maintained that his poetry was instead “really a series of fugitive impressions which I have never tried to co-ordinate”.Quoted in J. C. Brown, A Journey into Thomas Hardy's Poetry (London 1989) p. 42

Themes As if to protest further the charge of pessimism, Hardy opened the collection with the cheerfully lyrical 'Weathers', though he closed it with the self-searching meditation 'Surview'.M. Seymour-Smith, Thomas Hardy (London 1994) p. 853 Other notable poems paid tribute to the friend of his youth, Horace Moule, and to his second wife, Florence Dugdale;M. Seymour-Smith, Thomas Hardy (London 1994) p. 50 and p. 853 while others recalled once again Hardy's first wife Emma, perhaps representing a final coming-to-terms with the memory of their marriage.J. C. Brown, A Journey into Thomas Hardy's Poetry (London 1989) p. 241-2

Influence Many of the poems have been subsequently set to music, by a variety of different composers.I. Ousby ed., The Cambridge Companion to Literature in English (CUP 1994) p. 531

See also

References

External links

The complete Late Lyrics