All About Books discussion

I
Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

II
Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch-grass;
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.

III
Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by:
War’s annals will cloud into night
Ere their story die.

Poem copied from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

I am starting a new module next week that begins with World War One and the title breaking of nations brought to mind the breakdown of certain empires that happened around this time and what I ended my last module with.

Great choice! A wonderful poem about the passage of time.

I like this one Alannah!

The first two stanzas feel clear to me, with the smaller lives of the country people outliving those who are "important." I like the straight-forward simple language, the smoke from the "couch-grass."

I'm not sure what "cloud into night" in the third stanza means though - does he mean that war too and its records pass away too before the story of this simple maid and child? That there is something so significant in these simple lives that even the war can't match or touch?

Hardy's poetry is straightforward and yet I often find it a bit difficult.

A wonderful poem though - thanks for posting!