Thomas Hardy 1840-1928

Thomas Hardy was one of the most compelling voices in modern poetry, and yet one of the great Victorian. He was always reminiscing about the past, as I am sure he had a lot to think about having lived to be eighty eight years old, and comparing it to his present life. One of the poems that I really enjoyed from reading his list of poems was, "Logs on the Hearth" A memory of a sister. I have one sister who is still alive, which was not the case with Hardy when he wrote this poem, but we are miles apart from each other and oh how I missed seeing her in person. Reading this poem reminds me of our childhood days and the wonderful times we had together growing up in the country. So much about that, let me get back to Hardy's poem.

The poem "Logs on the Hearth" begins with the words, "The fire advances along the log of the tree we felled," (page 1078, lines 1-2) suggesting that the time of year must have been winter because of the logs that were burning in the fireplace. It is hard to tell from these lines if the speaker regrets having to burn those logs or should they have allowed the tree to just stay there and rot. However, one thing is certain it was a bitter sweet experience. On one hand the speaker was enjoying the warmth that the burning logs provided but on the other hand it brought back memories.

As stated in these words, "Which bloomed and bore stripped apples by the peck till its last hour of bearing knelled. The fork that first my hand would reach and then my foot in climbing upward inch by inch, lies now sawn, sapless, darkened with soot" (page 1078, lines 3-8) brought back memories of when the tree was alive and the many basketful loads of apples that they had picked from the apple tree. It also brought back childhood memories of the wonderful times and sometimes painful memories, even though the speaker did not mentioned the painful memories, that the speaker had with his sister from climbing the apple tree. I remember the time when I fell from a mango tree trying to beat my sister to the first ripe mango on the tree. It was not an enjoyable experience because we were told by our parents not to climb the tree and as a result I was scold even after my ordeal. Words such as "the fork that my hand would reach", "then my foot" tells of the various stages that the speaker had seen this tree in his lifetime. First, he was just able to touch the limbs with his hands and as time progresses, he was able to climb the tree with his sister.

The speaker then continues the poem with the same pattern of focusing on the present and contrasting it with the past in the words, "Where the bark chars is where, one year, it was pruned, and bled-Then overgrew the wound. But now, at last, its growing all have stagnated" (page 1079, lines 9-12). In describing the tree and the various experiences, I think the speaker was so peaceful in explaining the present but was very graphic with his words in describing the past. Using words such as "wound" and "bled" to describe the sap running from the tree when its dead branches were removed in order for new growth. To me it was as if the speaker was describing a persons bleeding wound. However, the speaker continues with the words,

"My fellow-climber rises dim
From her chilly grave-
Just she was, her foot near mine on the bending limb,
Laughing, her young brown hand awave." (page 1079, lines 13-16)

In the above mentioned lines, it seems as if the speaker was once again thinking of the past when he was happy playing with his sister but now she is dead as suggested by the words "chilly grave." While this poem is depressing because Hardy is grieving over his sisters loss, it is also very touching because you can truly see how much Hardy cared for his sister. I am getting the impression that the speaker wished that his sister was still around so that they could reminiscence on their childhood days but this will never happen since she is dead. Also, from these words, "Laughing, her young brown hand awave" gives the impression of the sister calling the speaker home. Was it that the speaker, who was now old was about to die and the sister was telling him of his death?

I had mixed emotions when I read "Logs on the Hearth" because it had brought back so many wonderful memories of my childhood.