Works of Thomas Hardy discussion

Beeny Cliff
March 1870 - March 1913

I

O the opal and the sapphire of that wandering western sea,
And the woman riding high above with bright hair flapping free—
The woman whom I loved so, and who loyally loved me.

II

The pale mews plained below us, and the waves seemed far away
In a nether sky, engrossed in saying their ceaseless babbling say,
As we laughed light-heartedly aloft on that clear-sunned March day.

III

A little cloud then cloaked us, and there flew an irised rain,
And the Atlantic dyed its levels with a dull misfeatured stain,
And then the sun burst out again, and purples prinked the main.

IV

—Still in all its chasmal beauty bulks old Beeny to the sky,
And shall she and I not go there once again now March is nigh,
And the sweet things said in that March say anew there by and by?

V

What if still in chasmal beauty looms that wild weird western shore,
The woman now is—elsewhere—whom the ambling pony bore,
And nor knows nor cares for Beeny, and will see it nevermore.

Glossary:
mews - seagulls
nether - low, or lower position
irised - a rainbow show of colors
levels - horizontal surfaces
prinked - adorned, dressed
the main - chief in size or importance (the sea)
chasmal - abyss, gorge (huge, vast)

Thomas Hardy met his first wife, Emma Gifford, in March 1870 when he was working in St Juliot in Cornwall. He was planning the restoration of an old church in the small town.

After Emma died in 1912, Hardy felt remorse for his failures in their difficult marriage. In March 1913, he made a pilgrimage to the places that held happy memories of when he and Emma were falling in love. Emma had enjoyed riding her pony on Beeny Cliff on the rugged northern Cornwall coast while Hardy walked or rode a bicycle. He wrote some beautiful poetry that captured the exuberance of youth, the joy of their early relationship, and his grief after Emma's death. "Beeny Cliff" is included in Hardy's collection, "Poems of 1912-13."

It is indeed a beautiful poem Connie, and has very much a Romantic feel. I liked the formal structure of this one, as it helps us to focus on the individual words which are so expressive.

I was scratching my head as to where Beeny Cliff might be in Dorset - until you said it is in Cornwall! If anything the cliffs there are more rugged, with lots of little coves for smugglers, and the sea is more treacherous.

Thank you for choosing this one; I'll link it to our list now.

A lovely poem from the 1912-13 collection! Thank you, Connie. The beginning has the quality of a fairy tale.

A thought just occurred to me. Could the little cloud that briefly cloaks Emma and Thomas be symbolic of an inking of doubt Hardy might have had in the beginning about their compatibility, which was quickly dismissed with the re-emergence of the sun? Irised rains are certainly ample distraction.

The mood of the poem becomes increasingly sombre in the concluding stanzas. The last verse is very definite in its depiction of finality, and seems to perfectly represent Hardy's despondency after Emma's death:

The woman now is—elsewhere—whom the ambling pony bore,
And nor knows nor cares for Beeny, and will see it nevermore.

I thought I would share an interesting bit of information which has a (tenuous) connection to this week's poem. Although the cliffhanger as a literary device has been used since the Middle Ages, the term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the serialised version of Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes, in which one of the protagonists is left hanging off a cliff. The steep rock face in question being the very same Beeny Cliff of the poem under discussion!

Bionic Jean wrote: "It is indeed a beautiful poem Connie, and has very much a Romantic feel. I liked the formal structure of this one, as it helps us to focus on the individual words which are so expressive.

I was sc..."

Beeny Cliff sounds like a gorgeous Cornwall location, and Hardy paints a vivid picture with his words.

Jane wrote: "A lovely poem from the 1912-13 collection! Thank you, Connie. The beginning has the quality of a fairy tale.

A thought just occurred to me. Could the little cloud that briefly cloaks Emma and Tho..."

It does have a fairy tale quality, Jane, like a scene from a Merchant-Ivory film! The sparkling rainbows from the opal-colored sea spray and the irised rain could hide any future problems they might anticipate. (Much of their early relationship was long-distance. Correspondence with letters from good writers is very different from living with someone.)

Thanks for sharing the interesting information about "the cliffhanger" and Beeny Cliff.

Jane wrote: "I thought I would share an interesting bit of information which has a (tenuous) connection to this week's poem. Although the cliffhanger as a literary device has been used since the Middle Ages, th..."

I love knowing this bit of info! Thanks, Jane

This is a lovely poem. Thank you, Connie, for choosing it. And thank your for the glossary. When I saw the word "mews" I immediately thought of horse stables that had been converted into homes, and that was a confusing image on a rocky sea coast LOL. One of my favorite moments in the poem is the seagulls "engrossed in saying their ceaseless babbling say". Isn't that exactly how seagulls behave.

I also liked the alliteration "wandering western sea" in the first stanza and "wild weird western shore" at the end. It's a small bit of that formal structure Jean mentioned, that draws the reader right into the scene. I really feel like I can see Beeny Cliff

Bridget wrote: "This is a lovely poem. Thank you, Connie, for choosing it. And thank your for the glossary. When I saw the word "mews" I immediately thought of horse stables that had been converted into homes, and..."

Thanks for pointing out the alliteration with the "w" sound, Bridget. It reminds me of the sound of the waves, although others may hear the sound of the pony's hooves.

It's interesting how many cheerful images there are in this poem of loss, since most of the poem focuses of their joy together or when he at least had hope. Only in the final stanza has he given up.

The cliff is such an interesting central image though with their distance from what they're observing; the ocean is so very far out of reach. I guess that distance is appropriate, as those days he remembers fondly with her can never come again. And by the end of the poem, she has gone out of reach too, for forever it seems.

Interesting comments about distance, Greg. Hardy does make a point of saying that the waves and the seagulls are far below. Somehow, that intensifies the vision of the high cliff with the lone horsewoman riding there when she was still living, and no one on the cliff after her death.

(By the way, Emma walked with a slight limp, but she loved to ride fast on her pony on Beeny Cliff. I have the feeling that the pony gave her a freedom and an opportunity for a bit of wildness. She didn't listen to people who told her to use more caution riding on the cliff.)

Hardy met Emma in March, 1870. 43 years later, Hardy returned to Cornwall (again in March) to revisit the places where he and Emma used to court.

How's this for a bit of foreshadowing? When I realised, a shiver ran down my spine...

Included in The Early Life of Thomas Hardy by Florence Emily Hardy is a diary (or notebook?) entry by Hardy which was written 3 days after Hardy's first meeting with Emma (E. L. G. is Emma Lavinia Gifford):

"March 10. Went with E. L. G. to Beeny Cliff. She on horseback. ... On the cliff. . . . “The tender grace of a day”, etc. The run down to the edge. The coming home."

I instantly recognised the penultimate line to Alfred Tennyson's poem Break, Break, Break. This is an elegiac poem which describes a man's feelings of loss as he stands by a rocky seashore:

Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.

O, well for the fisherman's boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.

That sends shivers through me too, Jane. Would Hardy be picturing himself as an old man in March 1870 when he was writing in his diary? Young people tend to think of themselves as invincible. Or would he have been thinking in 1870 that it was such an absolutely perfect day that it could never be repeated?

Great find, Jane!

"And nor knows nor cares for Beeny, and will see it nevermore."

The last line of the poem is full of sorrow, negative words, and alliteration of the "n" sound -- nor, knows, nor, and nevermore. It also has a flat sound compared to the start of the poem with the rhythm of the pony, active verbs, and the vivid imagery.