Late Lyrics and Earlier

Abstract

The most accurate statement on the chronology of these poems is provided in the first paragraph of the ‘Apology’. Irrespective of this preface, Late Lyrics and Earlier is the longest of Hardy’s eight collections of poetry, though it contains only 151 poems. Its range of subjects made R. L. Purdy describe the volume as in many respects ‘the most representative of Hardy’s whole career’. The period of remorse and emotional stress seems to be at a distance, and a lighter kind of lyric comes to the fore, not always designated as ‘song’ but written as if for music,²³ and relatively detached, even when based on recollections of Emma Hardy.