The clearest statement of Hardy’s view of life is probably “He Never Expected
Much” published in 1928, the year of his death. Its subtitle is “A consideration on
my eighty-sixth birthday.” The poem opens “Well, world, you have kept faith with
me” and its tone throughout is calm and gently rueful. In it Hardy sums up his
final view of a world that, in his eyes, never promised very much in the first
place. He recalls a childhood vision of the world warning him not to love it too
much because it would not give him much: “Just neutral-tinted haps and such.”
He wryly reflects that this is exactly what he ended up with; and that he never
expected life to be fair. In his novels, characters struggle hopelessly against a
mysterious power that seems to prevent human happiness fro no reason; in this
very late poem, Hardy advises simply giving up the struggle.
The gloom is characteristic. Whereas Wordsworth hears intimations of
immortality in Nature, Hardy hears intimations of mortality. Compare Hardy's
poem with these lines from Wordsworth's 'Prelude Book 1, lines 401-414:
Wisdom and Spirit of the Universe!
Thou soul that art the Eternity of Thought!
Thou giv'st to forms and images a breath
And everlasting motion! not in vain,
By day or star-light thus from my first dawn
Of Childhood did'st Thou intertwine for me
The passions that build up our human Soul,
Not with the mean and vulgar works of Man
But with high objects, with enduring things,
With life and nature, purifying thus
The elements of feeling and of thought,
And sanctifying by such discipline,
Both fear and pain, until we recognize
A grandeur in the beatings of the heart
150 years ago it was certainly different. Here in Dorset, our ancestors were rather
stoic yet, content with their lot. They had a dry sense of humour and enjoyed the
parties, which were called 'randies', held in local barns and the big houses.
Primarily, they had a great acceptance of life. WBs was T Hardy's mentors and in
one of hardy's poems he writes that 'he never expected much', a true reflection
of Dorset folk at that time.
One of Dorset's foremost writers was quite a guy. As well as writing several
volumes of poetry William Barnes was also master of 30 languages and a
amateur inventor - most notably of the pneumatic walking boots! (It's true!)