In my opinion this poem is a little morbid but I would not say a gothic horror as it’s not all about the detail of how the people have died, it’s just telling a story of what happened and how a woman is now on her own. I think it’s morbid as everyone close to her dies because of her. She acts like a “Trampwoman” towards her “fancy-man” which makes him take on revenge to kill the other man that she is meant to of slept with. However, the man that kills him is then put to execution which means that her “sweetheart swung” from the jail walls. Her baby also dies but of no cause of her own, and she is haunted by her lover as he wants to know if the baby was his or not which it was as in the poem it is said that “since we joined lips and swore” she has stayed away from all other men. This means that he can move on but he still stays and haunts the western moor. The whole poem grabs that reader’s attention due to what it contains as it is a sad story but I can’t help but think that in a way the woman deserved what she got due to “teasing” someone about not really being her baby’s father when he really was. Although I do not think that the men and the baby deserved to die as they didn’t do anything wrong especially not the bloke she said was the father and her actual boyfriend only did something wrong due to her lying.
In Shakespearean terms the word ‘tragedy’ is thrown around a lot and in a senseless manner as I think it means something bad that has happened but its turned into something funny as well as if to mock it. I think that this is evident in this poem as when you read it you laugh at the fact that her boyfriend killed “Jonny” when he hadn’t done anything wrong as its sort of ironic that he didn’t do anything and gets murder and then the murdered gets executed anyway so what was the point as it didn’t get the man anywhere. It’s also funny in the way that the woman lied as a joke but the joke was on her when her boyfriend died and she had no one except her unborn child which in the end was still born so it’s like as that man’s life was taken because of her, her child’s life will be taken as she doesn’t deserve it. Although the woman didn’t generally think that her man would kill Jonny but it is still wrong to joke about things like she did.
The fact that the poem is slightly confusing as well also makes the reader read on as they want to try and make sense of it as it has so many things in such as revenge, place names, haunting, jealousy, murder and even execution. It’s hard to really believe that one poem could have all that in and still be one of Hardy’s best selling poems ever. This does prove though that with what he created it did engage the reader’s interest and it kept it all the way through.
The next poem is ‘A Sunday Morning Tragedy’ which is also to do with death, a child, cheating and lying which is why I also think so many people enjoyed reading it and why so many people found it interesting.
Once again Hardy engages the reader by naming quite a few place names which gives the poem detail and lets readers imagine what each place is like and makes it so detailed that they can generally imagine that they are there.
The lifestyle and attitudes are explained more in this poem compared to ‘a Trampwoman’s tragedy’ as it goes into deeper thought about a girl who gets pregnant when not being married and then the father will not have anything to do with it which means that the girl has to abort her child. Overall the whole poem is about something that was not looked at in a good way in the 19th century, the fact that Hardy wrote something like this would intrigue a person to read it as it wasn’t really heard of and everyone likes reading something that is known as a dirty little secret. The attitude explains that sex before marriage wasn’t a good way to start and then to get pregnant makes it worse and people would actually look down at you for something like that. The man not wanting to know will make people think of him extremely badly as he is not being responsible for the things that he has done and thinks of the consequence as he would rather be in “shame” than be in poverty. Abortion would not be a good think to talk about either and is definitely not taken lightly. All in all this is one of the reasons why people are engaged in the poem so much and so quickly.
This poem is also morbid as it’s very unfortunate that the girl has to have an abortion which has to be done in secret as the bloke that she fell in love with won’t marry her and be the man he is meant to be. Also the fact that the girl confesses to her mum the trouble that she is makes it sad as it makes the reader think that she knows that she is in real trouble but it is also nice as it means that she can trust and rely on her mum which is not really known of these days.
Another factor that keeps people interested in the poem is the references to religion as everything that has happened in the poem do far it all against Christian beliefs. But the fact that in the poem they did what they did but then even more sins were created as not only does a shepherd give the girl a way out from the baby but also it killed her. It is not just that it goes against religion that makes it appealing but also the fact that it’s questioning God and the things that people believe in. Such as “If not, would God have sent such things?” meaning that if it was not meant to be why would God have sent a baby to her so not only is the Shepherd in the poem questioning God and the things he does but also if he is doing the right thing. Also the girl is described as “sinless” but how can she be when she had sex before marriage. The poem in this sense doesn’t really sense but it does as to her mum she was sinless as to her it isn’t her daughter fault but her own as she even says so at the end, “But pray God not to pity me”.
This is a tragedy as not only does the baby get killed for no reason in the end but the man wants to commit and get married to the girl but it’s too late as she has already killed the baby and started dying herself. In Shakespearean terms this is definitely a tragedy as its ironic that the girl and baby dies just as the man decides that he wants to be a dad and husband. It shows that it’s ok for men to change their minds and do what they like in those times but not for women as they have to decided and live with what they have chose. This would be classed as humorous in Shakespearean writing as the girl is the one who suffers and the bloke gets away in the end not being affected really.
Overall both poems sustain the readers interest by the stories that are revealed to the readers and the way that they plan out as both to be tragic endings. Another part of that is that they give detail and insight as to what life may have been like for some people in those days and everyone likes reading and hearing about other peoples misfortunes.
