Poems mainly dour or melancholy, but what else would you expect of Hardy? There are some verses that tell of the new life of Spring and the warmth of Summer, but they inevitably give way to the dimming and decay of Autumn and the cold and death of Winter.

Some of the poems are told from the point of view of characters from Hardy's novels, one being in the voice of Tess from Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which give a little insight into their thoughts.

The sections I found most affecting were those written by Hardy in his later years, widowed and mourning his wife, missing her presence and the way she moved about their home; reflecting upon the lives of his parents and grandparents, long gone with only him to remember them as they were when they lived. Hardy also loved the wild animals that visited his garden and his many pets, though typically he reflects upon the harshness of their lives, or his loss of the little companions of his hearth.

I feel that I need to be prepared to read Hardy - either in that Gothic frame of mind which seeks a sympathetic echo of its own melancholy, or in a less fantastical mood, when an empathetic spirit speaks from the page and offers the comfort of a shared loss. ( )