Here is another gem from Anne who provided us with a glimpse into her bookshelves last week.  This week she shares her thoughts on Thomas Hardy.

Thomas Hardy was the writer that sent me off into the world of literature.   I discovered him while reading The Mayor of Casterbridge at school and when I searched the shelves of the library I found more of his works.  I ended up collecting all that I could find.

Within his novels I found a Victorian England of the late 1800’s that was dark and gloomy and a small county called Wessex that was rural and full of class divisions.  I found people full of passions that led them to ultimate tragedy.

That makes it sound like his novels are heavy reading they aren’t.  In fact, many were published as serials in magazines so the chapters are in ‘bite sized’ pieces.  His books have a way of putting me right inside the skin of his characters so I can feel their desires and their desperation.

His novels are all tragic, which appeal to the drama queen in me.  He shook the accepted conventions of church, social status and morality and outraged everyone.   It’s funny, really, because all he was doing was lifting the covers and showing how society was behaving.  Can you imagine waking up one morning, turning to read the new serial published in your favourite magazine only to recognise a version of yourself in there? No wonder people were outraged!

Later I found out that he was a poet, too.  In fact, I think he was more poet than writer.  While some of his poetry is more involved than others, it’s the simple ones that capture me. It’s poems like this one that keep me coming back to read and reread my favourites.  I hope you enjoy the poem and if you haven’t read any of his books, go and find one in your library now.

A Thunderstorm in Town

She wore a ‘terra-cotta’ dress,
And we stayed, because of the pelting storm,
Within the hansom’s dry recess,
Though the horse had stopped; yea, motionless
We sat on, snug and warm.

Then the downpour ceased, to my sharp sad pain,
And the glass that had screened our forms before
Flew up, and out she sprang to her door:
I should have kissed her if the rain
Had lasted a minute more.

Anne Maybus of Clever Streak is a writer who specialises in writing for small businesses.  She also loves creative writing and often lets her pen take control of the words just so she can see what might end up on the page.