The Dynasts: Part One

by Thomas Hardy

The Dynasts is "an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes" by Thomas Hardy, whose parts were published in 1904, 1906 and 1908 respectively. The action is impossible to present on stage due to its elaborate battle-scenes and it is therefore usually counted as a closet drama. By the English novelist, short story writer, and poet who was awarded the Order of Merit in 1910.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.

The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal — and literal — cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Hardy is a member of the extremely small set of writers widely considered to have written important poetry, novels and short fiction. (Can anybody name another? - I can't!) Perhaps his least known work is his one foray into the literary form not mentioned above - drama. The Dynasts was published late in his career (after 1900) in three parts with two year intervals between successive parts.

Now, having read all the novels and short stories (many twice), I made a decision that I should investigate his poetry and this obscure work about the Napoleonic Wars. The Dynasts of the title are the members of the various important royal and imperial families of the time.

In a preface Hardy notes that it would be impossible to actually produce his drama on a stage but, since it is written in the form of a drama, with scene settings, dialogue and some stage directions only, he will refer to it as such until a better term arrives. That better term has now arrived - it is a film script!

So the film opens at the time when Napoleon was planning to invade Britain (a topic mentioned in at least two other places in Hardy's fiction). Britain is not well prepared as it has not the necessary standing army to repel such an invasion, but the Royal Navy rules the waves - with Nelson in charge. Perhaps an invasion can be averted? Part one ends shortly after the battle of Austerlitz, having taken in the Battle of Trafalgar on the way.

Strangely, perhaps, Hardy uses a pantheon of Spirits, subjugate to the Divine Will, as a kind of chorus, commenting on the action, but also intervening - the Spirit of Rumour taking human form more than once. These Spirits remind me of the symbolic figures populating William Blakes poetry, except that here they have names that are readily understood rather than requiring decoding.

The work is a straightforward read, much easier, in fact, than Hardy's later novels, despite the use of the Shakespearian convention of "high-born" and educated folk speaking in poetry in formal settings. Indeed the early scene in parliament is one of the best. In stark contrast, a later scene shows a few Wessex rustics manning a beacon and speaking the local dialect - this language is so vivid that the humble rural folk take on great stature and character in a way I've only known Hardy to be able to achieve.

The scene describing the Battle of Trafalgar is unique in Hardy's ouvre - he is not renowned for set-piece scenes of epic scale - rather the opposite, yet he handles it with great aplomb; this (perhaps as it should be) is the most memorable scene in Part 1. Blood, fury, fear, bravery, dignity and loyalty all feature.

This is a remarkable work, considering that Hardy has deliberately eliminated one of his great strengths - description of nature and landscape - and I am moving straight on with Part 2.

All Hardy fans should read this and some-one should film it.