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WHEN I SET OUT FOR LYONNESSE -THOMAS HARDY

Informations on THOMAS HARDY

Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in his novels and poetry by Romanticism, especially by William Wordsworth.[1] Charles Dickens is another important influence on Thomas Hardy.[2] Like Dickens, he was also highly critical of much in Victorian society, though Hardy focussed more on a declining rural society.

While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life, and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially therefore he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886),Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). However, since the 1950s Hardy has been recognized as a major poet, and had a significant influence on The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s, including Phillip Larkin and Elizabeth Jennings.[3

Books written by Thomas Hardy

WHEN I SET OUT FOR LYONNESSE

When I set out for Lyonnesse, A hundred miles away,

The rime was on the spray,And starlight lit my lonesomeness

When I set out for LyonnesseA hundred miles away.

What would bechance at LyonnesseWhile I should sojourn thereNo prophet durst declare,

Nor did the wisest wizard guessWhat would bechance at Lyonnesse

While I should sojourn there.

When I came back from LyonnesseWith magic in my eyes,

All marked with mute surmiseMy radiance rare and fathomless,When I came back from Lyonnesse

With magic in my eyes! 

Thomas Hardy

summary1. when the poet set out for Lyonnesse it was winter

season the foliage of the trees was covered with frost he had to travel very far. The place was hundred miles away

2. No prophet or the wisest wizard could guess what experience the poet would have at Lyonnesse . He himself couldn’t predict his future.

3. When the poet returned from Lyonnesse his eyes were bright with happiness. It was as if he had experienced a revelation of life.everyone silently noticed that the poet’s happiness was of a rare quality and which cannot be mesured.

Poem written by Thomas Hardy

The levelled churchyardThe Levelled Churchyard"O passenger, pray list and catch

Our sighs and piteous groans,Half stifled in this jumbled patchOf wrenched memorial stones!

"We late-lamented, resting here,Are mixed to human jam,And each to each exclaims in fear,'I know not which I am!‘

“The wicked people have annexedThe verses on the good;A roaring drunkard sports the textTeetotal Tommy should!

"There's not a modest maiden elfBut dreads the final Trumpet,Lest half of her should rise herself,And half some local strumpet!

"From restorations of Thy fane,From smoothings of Thy sward,From zealous Churchmen's pick and planeDeliver us O Lord! Amen!"

Where we are huddled none can trace,And if our names remain,They pave some path or p-ing placeWhere we have never

GLOSSARYLYONNESSE : THE MYTHICAL BIRTH PLACE OF

SIR TRISTRAM, IN ENGLAND ,BELIVED TO HAVE BEEN SUBMERGED BY THE SEA ;HERE AN IMAGINARY PLACE

Rime :frostThe spray : leaves and branches of trees ;foliageDurst:daredBechance:happen/or chance to happen Sojourn: stayRadiance: glowLonesomeness: a disposition toward being alone

FROST

The spray Radiance