Works of Thomas Hardy discussion

Genoa and the Mediterranean.

O epic-famed, god-haunted Central Sea,
Heave careless of the deep wrong done to thee
When from Torino’s track I saw thy face first flash on me.

And multimarbled Genova the Proud,
Gleam all unconscious how, wide-lipped, up-browed,
I first beheld thee clad—not as the Beauty but the Dowd.

Out from a deep-delved way my vision lit
On housebacks pink, green, ochreous—where a slit
Shoreward 'twixt row and row revealed the classic blue through it.

And thereacross waved fishwives’ high-hung smocks,
Chrome kerchiefs, scarlet hose, darned underfrocks;
Since when too oft my dreams of thee, O Queen, that frippery mocks:

Whereat I grieve, Superba! . . . Afterhours
Within Palazzo Doria’s orange bowers
Went far to mend these marrings of thy soul-subliming powers.

But, Queen, such squalid undress none should see,
Those dream-endangering eyewounds no more be
Where lovers first behold thy form in pilgrimage to thee.

[March 1887]

This is another poem that seemed relatively straightforward to me in meaning, but I like to think of him standing there, allowing the city to affect him how it will.

It takes him a while to see past the modern trappings of the population of Genoa, which feels a little ironic to me, since he himself wrote often of the simple folk of his own country. Travelling, the evidence of the simple folk is for the moment merely a distraction from the grandeur of the view.

Hardy and his wife came to Genoa by train so it's not surprising that they saw the poor part of the city first with laundry flapping in the breeze. He still paints a colorful picture with the houses painted pink, green, and ochre, and the blue sea in the background.

It might have been a disappointing first impression of Genoa which is known for its marble. But Genoa has a large harbor and was the home of many fishermen's families. It sounds like Hardy got over his initial disappointment when he saw the gardens at the Palazzo Doria. I guess we've all acted like tourists when visiting a foreign country, and need to remind ourselves that people of all economic classes live there.

Connie wrote: "I guess we've all acted like tourists when visiting a foreign country, and need to remind ourselves that people of all economic classes live there.."

For sure Connie, Hardy is human like all of us! I was just surprised since so much of his work depicts the lives of those who are not well off.

And I do like the colorful picture he paints, as you say. I can envision it in my head quite vividly.

It's interesting in itself, that contrast between the reputation for marble and the undergarments of the work-folk, flapping on the clothesline.

I think Hardy is having a little laugh at himself with this poem. Because, he is a poet and novelist and he had dealt with all kinds of simple, human poverty and simplicity, and yet he wanted to find unmarred splendor in this foreign city and not the same everyday things (like laundry) that he found in his own. I wonder if he was thinking to himself that he had given in to being influenced by other people's words and observations, giving him unreasonable expectations.

It also makes you remember that the poor and simple people are everywhere and make up what the city truly is.

I too think this is a little tongue in cheek. Thomas Hardy seems to have chosen particularly elaborate and "poetic" language to describe something which he found disappointingly prosaic: washing on a line, to make the contrast.

It reminds me of the disappointment Charles Dickens described feeling in Pictures from Italy when he visited Rome. Expecting great artistry and grandeur, he found it dirty and ordinary, and yearned for London! He did find some of the ancient ruins he had been expecting, but loathed the pompous rituals of the Catholic church there, and the fact that the riches of the Church were set amid the squalor and filth of the poor.

I wonder if Thomas Hardy's view changed at all after he had been there a while? (Edit - oh now I see that Connie said it did.)

Thanks Greg - this is now linked. 🙂

Jean, Dickens' Pictures from Italy was the first thing I thought of when I read this poem. Dickens arrived by boat so he had a better initial view of Genoa. Dickens also noticed the poverty of the city, but soon appreciated Genoa and spent almost a year there.

Hardy indicated that he later saw the beauty in Genoa:

Whereat I grieve, Superba! . . . Afterhours
Within Palazzo Doria’s orange bowers
Went far to mend these marrings of thy soul-subliming powers.