'Far from the Madding Crowd'
This is Dorset - Hardy country
It was here, under a deep cosy thatch, that Thomas Hardy was born, and where he wrote some of his most famous works gazing out of the windows to Thorncombe Wood and beyond
On this settle, by the fireplace, the family would gather to tell stories, sing songs, play their fiddles, celebrate birthdays and Christmas, mourn the loss of family and friends, and enjoy all the customs and traditions of Dorset.
Here is the ancient floor,
Footworn and hollowed and thin,
Here was the former door
Where the dead feet walked in
She sat here in her chair,
Smiling into the fire;
He who played stood there,
Bowing it higher and higher
Childlike, I danced in a dream;
Blessings emblazoned that day;
Everything glowed with a gleam;
Yet we were looking away!
'The Self-Unseeing'
'Once more the cauldron of the sun
smears the bookcase with winy red,
And here my page is, and there my bed,
And the apple-tree shadows travel along
Soon their intangible track will be run,
And dusk grow strong
And they have fled'
From 'The Sun on the Bookcase'
As a young boy Thomas would sit on the window seat or at his little old table writing poems about the countryside. Four of his early novels were written here including 'Under the Greenwood Tree' and 'Far From the Madding Crowd'.
Hardy's little old table had a special place in his heart as it was a gift from his mother, so much so he wrote a poem about it:
Creak, little wood thing, creak,
When I touch you with elbow or knee;
That is the way you speak
Of one who gave you to me!
You, little table, she brought -
Brought me with her own hand
As she looked at me with a thought
That I did not understand.
Whoever owns it anon,
And hears it, will never know
What a history hangs upon
This creak from long ago
The little table shown here is a replica - the original now resides in the Dorset County Museum
Thomas Hardy - 1840 - 1928
One of the most renowned poets and novelists in English literary history.
When he died his ashes were deposited in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London, and his heart was interred in the graveyard at Stinsford Church, Dorset, where his parents, grandparents, and his first wife were buried.
