tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post1656699310870776369..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: "At Day-Close In November"Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-59927311169587912922012-11-12T15:07:52.046-08:002012-11-12T15:07:52.046-08:00Bovey Belle: thank you very much for your follow-u...Bovey Belle: thank you very much for your follow-up thoughts. In light of what you say, I realize that I was too glib and hasty in my first response. I agree that TH (like any good poet) is well worth reading when one needs cheering up (or at any other time): they help us to put things in perspective, and to focus upon what is really important.<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-9598647227958657142012-11-12T04:07:03.912-08:002012-11-12T04:07:03.912-08:00Thank you Stephen. With life, there are ups and d...Thank you Stephen. With life, there are ups and downs (the latter being all too often beyond our control, being in the hands of mortals who we would not welcome into our circle of friends - malcontents, if you like.)<br /><br />To be able to turn to poetry or prose and glean hope and a degree of consolation from someone else's creative thoughts (even doleful old TH!) is reassuring.<br /><br />Ah, dull November days - we have another such today!Bovey Bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13117332471600275100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-90787299976643000652012-11-08T10:35:10.362-08:002012-11-08T10:35:10.362-08:00Bovey Belle: it is good to hear from you again, al...Bovey Belle: it is good to hear from you again, although I am sorry to hear of how your day has been. I hope the Hardy poems helped a bit. Although Hardy isn't exactly the poet one thinks of when one needs cheering up!<br /><br />You are correct: "Everything Comes" was written after Emma's death. Thus, it is one of the self-lacerating poems that Hardy wrote in its aftermath. He didn't place this poem in the well-known group "Poems of 1912-13," so I believe that it was written subsequently.<br /><br />Thank you again, and I hope things improve.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-52088847772141967042012-11-08T05:59:42.064-08:002012-11-08T05:59:42.064-08:00Thank you - on a day when my soul is brought low -...Thank you - on a day when my soul is brought low - it is good to have a snippet of Edward Thomas (he did NOT like that house for all its careful construction!) and dear Thomas Hardy, whose countryside I know so well. I love your connection between the poems of the two poets.<br /><br />As for dear Thomas Hardy, the first poem is so descriptive of the sort of dour November day we have here today. The pines surely must have been those he planted around Max Gate. With the 2nd poem, Emma died in November 1912, and although I am not sure of the exact date the poem was written, it must be one of the grief-stricken (or guilt-ridden?) poems he penned after her death. Max Gate still lurks behind the shrubbery to this day . . . "Bower" seems a particularly romantic idea not quite at one with the concept of full grown pine trees!Bovey Bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13117332471600275100noreply@blogger.com