Thomas Hardy frequently insisted that his poems were not self-expressive, but dramatic or 'impersonative'. Yet biographical expositions have dulled their impersonality. Brian Green's approach is more exacting and rewarding; taking Hardy at his word, he traces Hardy's 'master theme' throughout the corpus of poems - a governing concern which merges Victorian and perennial ideas throughout the whole of Hardy's writings.

BRIAN GREEN

Acknowledgements - Abbreviations - Introduction - PART 1: HARDY'S MASTER THEME - Nature - The Hardyan Temper and Ethos - Hardy's Poetic Manifesto - PART 2: STRATEGIES OF SOLACE - Revelation - Rationalism - Nescience - Humanism - Personhood - PART 3: IMAGES OF SOLACE - The Dimensions of Home - Poems of 1912-13: The Process of Mourning - Notes - Works Cited - Index