[Ttha-potm] re some autobiographical readings

[carolyn mcgrath]

"But is it really safe to make these assumptions when there is nothing in the poem to suggest what exactly the pleasurable enterprise was which the speaker was rising early to embark on?"

Maybe there is something in the first section, the persona's attention to and ability to locate, name and appropriately describe 'the Great Nebula' and 'the Pleiades', suggests more than a passing acquaintance with the Greek myths so maybe the studying is implicitly suggested. However, the poet has not constructed the poem for the reader to explicitly make that link; unless the reader were aware of the biographical facts, I don't think you would necessarily make such a connection. 

What I notice is that the persona is demonstrably an educated, thinking person whose head is directed to 'higher things', who may be proud of that added-value he believes this education gives his comprehension of life, the universe and everything. This is then contrasted to the unseen, whistling, scythe-whetter who, the persona is at pains to point out, is not 'irked', like the thinker, but accepts his lot with 'blithe uncare'. Whether it is Hardy considering the temperament and position of his father, his brother or a farmhand is lost in the mists of time and creativity, but the tension that exists for the persona is one that is of interest beyond Hardy himself and of wider concern.

In some ways, believing that the poem has these autobiographical links does not significantly give additional meaning to the poem for me, (doesn't all art ultimately have to be autobiographical in some way or other?), but it is useful to remember the very different worlds that Hardy was part of and the inner conflict this must have created for him. However, I do think that we have to guard against assuming links where few exist, and against the search for links overwhelming our reading of the poem. It is significant that Hardy does not emphasise autobiographical links in the title or body of the poem. His interest is on the 'event' and its significance and it is that we should keep in view.

On a slightly different tack, can I say how much I appreciate the awareness David showed of his readers, this reader in particular, in his last posting as, without his assurances that he was sincere, I would have been mortified at the thought of his thinking I had been patronising - of him of all people! I really value the broader context he, and all the scholars, bring to the POTM table. I think general readers, like myself, are quite capable of observations of individual works, and I thank him for his kind words. What I and others lack is the wider context that knowledge, bibliographic, biographic and historical, can bring and which can always add strength or flavour to a particular reading. But most important of all, I do believe in the power of the poem to stand absolutely alone and resonate with its readers without any of that knowledge at all, and that's what I think Hardy meant when he said none need a passport to his poetry...and why POTM, being
 open to all, can and often does work remarkably well - despite our 'irking' each other on a regular basis!

yours, with 'blithe uncare'

but best wishes as always

Carolyn McGrath


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