Thomas Hardy Selected Poetry 1998 Edition
Thomas Hardy: Selected Poetry — Oxford World’s Classics
Author: Thomas Hardy
Editor: Samuel Hynes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Series: Oxford World’s Classics
Edition: Revised Oxford World’s Classics paperback
Publication: 1998
First published in this selection: 1994
ISBN-10: 0-19-283491-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-283491-1
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: xxvii + 266 pages
Genre: Poetry / English Literature / Classics
About the Book
Selected Poetry brings together a substantial selection of verse by Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), one of the most distinctive voices in English literature. Although Hardy is celebrated for novels such as Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, he regarded himself first and foremost as a poet.
His poetry explores the great recurring experiences of human life — love, marriage, memory, loss, ageing, nature and death — often with the melancholy, irony and emotional restraint for which Hardy became renowned. His later poetry, including the deeply personal elegiac poems associated with the death of his first wife Emma, helped establish his lasting influence on twentieth-century English poetry.
This authoritative Oxford collection was prepared by distinguished scholar Samuel Hynes, editor of The Complete Poetical Works of Thomas Hardy. The poems are selected from the Oxford Authors critical edition, making this an excellent volume for both general readers and students of English literature.
Contents & Features
The volume includes selections from Hardy’s major poetry collections, alongside useful scholarly material. It contains an introduction, chronology, textual note, bibliography, explanatory notes, glossary and index. Among the poems included are well-known works such as Hap, Neutral Tones, The Darkling Thrush and many others spanning Hardy’s long poetic career.
About This Edition
This copy belongs to the highly regarded Oxford World’s Classics series. The copyright page identifies the Samuel Hynes introduction and editorial material as © 1994, notes the first World’s Classics paperback publication in 1996, and states that it was reissued as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback in 1998.
The cover features a 1923 portrait of Thomas Hardy in academic robes by Reginald Eves, from the Thomas Hardy Memorial Collection at the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester.
Condition
Pre-owned / vintage paperback. The photographed copy shows general age-related and shelf wear, particularly around the cover edges and corners, with some surface marking and creasing. The internal pages appear generally clean and well preserved from the photographs. Please refer to all photographs for the exact condition of this individual copy.
A Classic for Poetry Lovers
A particularly appealing edition for admirers of Thomas Hardy, classic English poetry and Oxford World’s Classics. Hardy’s combination of emotional honesty, melancholy and observations of everyday human experience makes his poetry remarkably enduring. This scholarly yet accessible Oxford edition would make a lovely addition to a classic literature collection or personal poetry library.