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At a Lunar Eclipse


By Thomas Hardy


 

Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.

How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?

And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?

Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?

 

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England the eldest of four children. At the age of 16 he became articled to a local architect, and became his assistant.At the age of 22 he moved down to London to work for another architect, and in 1865 had his first publication accepted and began to write poetry. Two years later he returned to live and work in Dorset on a church restoration project, as well as continueing to write, and also met his future wife at around this time. One of his most famous novels, Far From the Madding Crowd was his first major literary success at the age of 34. From thereon in, Hardy had numerous successes with such classics as The Mayor of Casterbridge, Wessex Poems and Jude the Obscure. He died at the age of 88 in 1928, and his heart was removed and buried next to Emma, his first wife; while his body was cremated and the ashes buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.

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For more information about Thomas Hardy visit here for the Thomas Hardy Association.

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