“Hardy’s poetry has a morbid fascination with death” Write about this view.

1. “Hardy’s poetry has a morbid fascination with death” Write about this view. Saturday, 07 June 2014

2. Consider the title • Write about the view – you are not obliged to agree. • MORBID FASCINATION implies an unhealthy obsession • Use the introduction to establish your position • Consider the attitude of an elderly man who is faced by the death of a loved one. • Consider the attitude to death seen elsewhere.

3. Aspects of Narrative. • Do not try to write about ALL THE POEMS. Use 3 as main poems, refer to others. • Language, settings, attitudes… • Focus as much on how Hardy writes as on what he writes – no need to go into narrative mode yourself.

4. Language • Euphemisms – do they suggest fascination or a reluctance to face up to death? • Use of death as metaphor, such as in Thrush… • Use of abstract ideas such as “haunting” as a normal part of life.

5. Settings • Emma poems seem to show a normal framework seen through thoughtful eyes. • Use of time as a means of linking life and death – Boterel • Landscape is personified and Winter used suggesting that Death is a relevant thought – but Thrush sees hope…

6. Attitudes • Hope is seen in the least likely places (Thrush) • No conventional Christian afterlife is envisaged. • Spirits live on after death in some form – Afterwards suggests a man worried about his legacy and aware of his own mortality. • Emma poems show engagement with a grieving process of some sort.

7. Morbid Obsession? • Why is he writing about death at all? Consider the context. • Is it unhealthy? The idea of the grieving process might suggest the opposite. • View about death and the continuation of the soul is potentially positive.