INTRODUCTION: Historical Stages of the Twentieth Century
Stage 1:Victorian (1837-1901) to Edwardian (1901-1910)
Stage 2: WWI (1914-18) and its aftermath
Stage 3: WWII (1939-45) and decolonization

 THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)
--Positioning Thomas Hardy
--Absence of religious faith
--Interest in women's grievances
--Regional, rural, reminis. of Wordsworth

 p. 1868/1934 "Hap"
--Title: Happenstance or Chance. Hardy's language?
--Poetic form = sonnet:
Octave--If X, then Y
Sestet--Not so.
Order lies only in humanity's making?

--Blindness + deafness = disability?
--Images: sea or pine tree; and wingless bird
--Coda

 p.1871/1937 "The Darkling Thrush"(1900)
--Poetic form = hymn = ?
--Speaker's isolation
--Compare bird to poet (cf Keats, Hopkins)
--Compare Hardy to Wordsworth

 p. 1872/1938 "The Ruined Maid" (1866/1900)
--The myth of the country girl ruined in the city
--The word "ruined"
--Compare with Mrs. Warren's Profession

 p. 1882/1949 "The Voice" (1914)
--Hardy's marriage to Emma Gifford
--apostrophe; rhythm = dactylic (/--/--);
--closing stanza: limping rhythm, truncated lines, isolated images.