Another on Hardy's Poetry

32 7 right one. As publication of this edition proceeds, will we see the gradual eclipse of Gibson's edition? In one respect, yes: Hynes gained access to certain manuscripts denied to Gibson. But that does not in itself invalidate Gibson's work. Comparing the presentation of "The Darkling Thrush" by both scholars will show how their books complement each other. Hynes's access to manuscripts enables him to inform us that those "bine stems" were originally prosaic "twig-lines" and that the Century's "cloudy canopy" and "death-lament" were originally preceded by "its" not "his"; perhaps most interesting, the key word "fervourless" was no happy first thought: the progression ran from "promiseless" to "morrowless" in the MS before reaching print as we know it. In most respects the other variants Hynes presents are identical to those of Gibson, but the latter supplies a few missing from the former: "strings of broken lyres" was "strings from broken lyres" in several editions, "blessed Hope" appeared as "Blessed Hope" in the Graphic, and Gibson gives some other changes in accidentals which Hynes, for the reasons stated in his preface, does not. While I do not fault Hynes for excluding these variants, if I were analyzing the poem I would be grateful that Gibson had included them. Scholars or libraries already owning Gibson's edition should certainly buy Hynes's without fear of redundancy. If the choice came down to owning one or the other, however, I would recommend purchasing Hynes's edition. When it is complete, it will be the most authoritative and inclusive text of Hardy's poetry we are likely to see in this century. W. Eugene Uavis Purdue University 3. ANOTHER UN HARDY'S POETRY William E. Buckler. Art and Ideas. New 19 8 3T $ 27.5U The Poet ry of Thomas Ha rdy: York and London: New York A_ Study i η Univ. Press, It is painful to have to record my dismay at the crankiness of William Buckler's new book. That crankiness begins in the first sentence of the preface with an attack on "recent aggressive, systematic, 'scientific' approaches to the critical reading act," and concludes in the fifth chapter with footnotes that express irritation at interpretations of Hardy's poems that conflict with Buckler's own readings; Samuel Hynes, Tom Paulin, Frank Pinion, Donald Davie, and J. U. Bailey have all sinned against the light. Even this reviewer's statement that "The Convergence of the Twain" is "a grimly hostile reflection on attitudes current in the twentieth century, on modern hubri s"--a reasonable enough conclusion, considering some of Hardy's remarks quoted in Buckler's third chapter—is described as having "thrown away" the poetic case, that is, Buckler's version of what the poem is saying. Buckler's habit of telling us what to think —rigidified by such bullying 328 expressions as "obviously," "the truth of the matter seems to be," "the important critical point is," "clearly," "of course," "certainly," "one must admit that," and "it is important to insist"--seems more appropriate to a classroom, where a teacher's insistence on his own perspectives practically never meets effective resistance (Buckler dedicates this book "To Members of the Hardy Seminar, New York University, 1960-1980"), than to a critical study intended to persuade one's peers that entire generations of critics have been misreading Hardy's poems. Matters are not helped by references to "the serious reader," "the conscientious reader," a "critically curious reader," and "the genuinely critical reader" who is "truly" interested in considering the "larger issues"; Buckler, in every case, seems to be talking about himself. Unfortunately, this study of Hardy fails to take into account the painstaking research into details of Hardy's life conducted by Robert Gittings; the numerous statements on poetical theory and practice contained in the multi-volume edition of Hardy's letters (Richard L. Purdy and Michael Millgate); the publication of scrupulously-edited texts of Hardy's architectural and literary notebooks (C. J. P. Beatty and Lennart Bjork); biographies of Hardy's first and second wives, with useful material on the genesis of various poems (Denys Kay-Robinson and Robert Gittings); and several studies of Hardy...