Thomas Hardy Poetry

For AS Level, we had to study Thomas Hardy's poetry in a lot of depth, and I must admit, though we found the poet himself interesting, the poetry lacked something. I found quite a few of them very pessimistic. Most of them full of doubt, cynicism. They got even worse after 1912, when his wife, Emma died. I mean it's understandable to be pretty distraught when suffering a loss like that, but he wrote so many poems depicting his own guilt (they weren't speaking much to each other, and he didn't believe she was that ill), which, to some extent is quite sweet, but to some, it seems a little over the top, and very depressing.
I will say something for Hardy, he did write a terrific love poem not long after meeting Emma called 'When I Set Out For Lyonnesse' which is a lovely, happy, and optimistic, magical poem.

Hardy was a minor poet (minor in the sense of his output). He was first and foremost a novelist and short story writer. He did write some memorable poems, especially Channel Firing, Ah, Are You Walking On My Grave, and The Darkling Thrush.

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Originally Posted by Jassy Melson

Hardy was a minor poet (minor in the sense of his output). He was first and foremost a novelist and short story writer. He did write some memorable poems, especially Channel Firing, Ah, Are You Walking On My Grave, and The Darkling Thrush.

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I do not know if I agree with that. I think he is equally as well known as a poet amongst readers of poetry. The difference is that the readers of English 19th century literature are more numerous than those of poetry, thus the renown. IT has nothing to do with output, or quality. He probably was the best English (as in England) poetry of his generation, especially in terms of output - he marks a nice pivot from 19th century poetics into the more experimental works of 20th century poetry, something of a major figure in my eyes.

Honestly, the notion that a poet can be "minor" because he wrote successful novels is absurd.

Then again, just looking at something like the Norton Anthology of Poetry, one can see that they do not seem to esteem him as a minor poet, in contrast to somebody like Kippling. In truth, I do not even know where your argument is exactly coming from. It would make sense if his poems were not so well known and available, but they really are quite commonly known outside of the high school curriculum that would seem to dictate the bulk of poetic knowledge (I cannot say for how well he is known in British high schools though and I am generalizing over North America).