Hardy looks up from his writing to find the Moon staring down at him. When he ask the Moon what he is doing, his response it startling:
Oh, I've been scanning the pond and hole
And waterway hereabout
For the body of one with a sunken soul
Who has put his life light out (2162).
This poem was written during World War I, so I believe that when Hardy uses the term "the pond," he is speaking about the men that were fighting and dying in Western Europe. This region has commonly referred to as "the pond". These men who are fighting in the War, many of whom are having their "life light" put out each day. And during a time like this:
I am curious to look
Into the blinkered mind
Of one who wants to write a book
In a world of such kind (2162).
When the world is at war, Hardy is trying to write. Is this his subliminal way of saying maybe his timing is wrong? Maybe he can be of better use in another capacity. Writing seems like such a mundane task in a world at war.
I like how he animates the Moon. It makes me wonder if the Sun, Moon and Stars could sit back and watch us, what would they have to say about what they see?
Deborah,
ReplyDeleteInteresting commentary on and interpretation of hardy's poem, but I think you get off track by assuming a connection to WWI. I have heard Europe referred to as being "across the pond" (i.e. across the Atlantic from us) but it does not make much sense to refer to the land as a pond. You recover a bit in the second section, though.