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Analysing social ideas within Hardy's Poetry
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an A* piece of coursework that explores the ideas of social constructs within Hardy's poetry
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Jess SheppardTo what extent does Hardy try “to intervene with social order, with a programme that aims to
change actual social conditions”?
The social climate of the Victorian era was certainly hypocritical. In some sense, as readers, we can
question our feelings towards Hardy himself. On one hand we can perceive how the radical writer
aims to challenge the orthodox to deconstruct the typical associations surrounding gender roles thus
allowing a reader to consider the unspoken truths about Victorian civilisation. However, in other
aspects Hardy entrenches himself into this social mould crafted by men and as readers we become
disheartened by his commitment to overthrowing the mainstream.
Within Tess’ Lament Hardy utilises the pure, proletarian dairy maid from his novel ‘Tess of the
d’Urbervilles’ who lives a transient existence due to her feckless parents, circumstances of fate and
lowly status of women in a patriarchal society in order to explore whether these rural customs will
survive in an ever-modernising world. The poet relishes in the creation of microcosms presenting
them almost like unique kingdoms such as that of Wessex capturing a very specific community of a
very specific time. In Tess’ Lament the pagan country girl argues that “I would be that folk forgot me
quite”(1), as a woman in a society whose values are crafted by men she is soldered to a fixed social
stance that she cannot break from. The refrain alongside the bitter sounding fricative alliteration
intensifies the extent as to which she is to be swallowed in this system that through the eyes of
society she has betrayed. However, in the face of social expectation Hardy distorts the syntax to
something that is disjointed rectifying the idea that her own family and heritage is innate within her
as she adopts her rustic accent. In utilising such a close-knit community Hardy permits readers to
understand the struggle of an infringing industrialised realm upon a hub of traditional values.
What is more, H Bertens argues that Marxism is essentially accepting that we are all counterparts of
one system that is dictated by our “social circumstances (which) determine, most, if not all, of your
life.”(2)As exemplified by Hardy throughout Tess’ Lament, he reciprocates her yearning loss using
refrains to encapsulate her utmost sorrow. The poet focuses the reader’s attention to the
agricultural sphere of the “dairy” that utilizes its employees solely as stimulants of economic growth
as “the flowers we potted p'rhaps are thrown/To rot upon the farm”.(3) In the context of the novel,
the personal pronoun “we” could be indicative of that loving union between Tess and Angel which
tragically crumbles signified via the semantic field of decay throughout the poem, this affirms that
shared endeavour is not feasible; we must fend for ourselves in a system that demands it as H.
Bertens informs that “capitalism alienates them from themselves seeing them in terms of
production”(4) thus negating any formation of a sustainable community, a quality in Hardy admired.
Nonetheless the capitalistic workings of the farm ensure that nothing is wasted, even if they will
“rot”, therefore Hardy proposes that there is no sense of loss among the employees as the stakes for
economic achievement are rampant.
Moreover, in the ballad A Trampwoman’s Tragedy Hardy crafts a group of subversive characters who
travel around the country seeking employment and through boredom find themselves in a tragic
web. Hardy investigates how the speaker of the poem lacks logical motivation as she teases her lover
by encouraging the diminutively, alliteratively named “Jeering John”(5) to physically woo her with
“his hand my waist upon”(6). Hardy ensures that order of pronouns is indicative of the patriarchal
order that confined women to existing social confinements that they could only challenge via
tabooed rebellion. The woman, in her lack of hindsight, “nodded- still to tease”(7) one could deduce
that at this point Hardy allows her to internalize her lowly social status as a destitute tramp woman
ensuring that she abandons her outspokenness to conform to the social criteria that quashes her
thoughts. Hardy’s use of the caesura demonstrated above adds a cruelty to the actions that the
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