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Thomas Hardy published "The Ox ...

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From: The Washington Post
Date: 20021222
Author:

Thomas Hardy published "The Oxen" in the London Times on Dec. 24, 1915. He based the poem on a traditional legend of oxen kneeling in their stables at midnight on Christmas Eve, which he first heard from his mother. He may also have recalled the carving of "a kneeling bovine" that he saw as a youth when he was working as an architect's apprentice on the restoration of Rampisham Church.

Hardy always associated the supernatural with the celebration of Christmas. I feel that in this poem he envied the people who sat comfortably in a Christian "flock" and never doubted the veracity of the tale of ...

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