Thomas Hardy had a tendency for the melancholy in more than just his philosophical issues. He also writes semi-sad love stories like On The Departure Platform.
The poem addresses two lovers who are being separated for the time being.
"we kisssed at the barrier, and passing through
She left me, and moment by moment got
Smaller and smaller, until to my view
She was but a spot;" (line 1-4).
He is leaving her lover to go somewhere unknown, and he stands and watches her disappear off into the distance. He wants to hold onto her for as long as he can. Therefore, he watches her until he can only make out "a wee white spot of muslin fluff" (line 5).She is the love of his life, and until now they have probably never been separated. He is not quite sure when he will see her again, but she was "more than [his] life to [him] and he is prepared to live and find his way back to her as long as she lives (line 15). She is his life, and without her, his life can be forfeit. They have even made plans to be reunited again. He is already dreaming of the "season she will appear again" (line 18). Even though he just left her, he is already living for the moment when he will see her again. This is a special moment in their lives, and while he is preparing to see her again, he knows the emotions he feels in this moment will never occur again. At this moment, he has realized the enormity of his love for her, and he knows that he may never feel this way again.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteInteresting choice of a poem to analyze, and good handling of textual examples and commentary. You do a good job of exploring the mix of emotions and tones in what you accurately refer to as a "semi-sad" poem.
Love does that have that way of sneaking up on you and hitting you when you least expect it. As you stated in your analysis, it was not until he was on the ship watching her disappear that he realized the type of love he felt for this woman. Your right this is a somewhat sad poem about separation, but the fact that a reunion was already in the making, and the obvious way they both felt for each other their love was deep enough to withstand the distance that he was putting between them. After all you know the old saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you did your blog. I can honestly say that you did a better job explain this passage than i did. I agree that as soon as she departed he begin dream about the day she would return. I do not think that this is some much of a sad story, but just an episode that has "to be continued" at the end.
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