Loss is the driving force of Hardys poetic creativity.

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Loss is the driving force of Hardys poetic creativity.

Loss in Hardys poems are portrayed in many ways Hardys poetry is constantly wistful and elegiac in tone, and despite some hints of humour the poems remain focused on the disappointments of mans search for love and how he looses it. His love poems are fatalistic; they deal with love falling apart over time 'At Castle Boterel over a short period of time this 'change is the transitory nature of love. The change, which he writes about, comes in different forms, change of peoples feelings for each other, love ending due to death or peoples visions for their future together. In any case, although love changes everything in nature stays the same. Loves power for good does not really exist in Hardy's poetry, it may feel good at the time however, when it ends it makes people feel nostalgic and sad and perhaps they think about their relationships.

Most of the love poems that Hardy wrote were based on his own experiences, which is the main reason why his poems are about love faltering over time as well as the basic losses, which follow. I feel he actually wants people to know about his losses. It could be because he does not want people to make the same mistakes. After the death of his spouse Emma, he questioned his long and unsuccessful marriage, regretting his lack of passion as explored in the final lines of 'After a Journey. Hardy writes about marriage as a reluctant compromise between two people.

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I have decided to concentrate on three main poems: 'At Castle Boterel’, 'The Voice’ and a poem that I found interesting while doing some background work called 'After a journey’. As these poems best help show how Hardys loss is the real driving force behind his creativity.

'At Castle Boterel’ is written mostly in a sombre and sad tone, then becoming philosophical and finally regretful in the last stanza. Hardy is recalling a romantic encounter with a past lover which "filled but a minute", in time but has lived on in his memories, despite its insignificance in the eyes of ...

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