Under the Waterfall by Thomas Hardy

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Under the Waterfall by Thomas Hardy

Some people say that history finds a way of repeating itself. The same thing happened to poetry in the Twentieth Century era. Poetry returned to a metaphysical style, which concentrates on nature and the belief in the supernatural power of different things. You ask how is history repeating itself this way? It is like this because this is the style that Romantic Poets wrote. The main difference between the two completely separate eras is the poets in the Twentieth Century use more common events and common relationships. This made poetry even easier to understand because more people could relate to it. To me, their poetry is often easier to understand because it addresses everyday life. I also think that much of this is due to the fact that more people were reading then there ever was before. Now the poets were writing so that everyone could read and understand what they were trying to express and have them relate it to everyday life. This can be easily seen through different works by different authors of that period. Poems such as "Under the Waterfall" By Thomas Hardy and "Sweeney Among the Nightingales" by T. S. Eliot. Both works express their feelings about an ordinary event, adult relationships.

Thomas Hardy's poem "Under the Waterfall" can be interpreted many different ways. One cannot deny the power and influence nature has over the two lovers. The poem talks about two lovers going on a picnic in August to a waterfall. Hardy discusses the purity and serenity and permanence of the waterfall: "The purl of a runlet that never ceases / In stir of kingdoms, in war, in peaces; /…"(13-14). This shows the power of nature and its lasting presence. He then goes on to describe the picnic, "My lover and I / Walked under a sky / of blue with a leaf-wove awning of green" (27-29). Once again this shows the beauty and romantic power that nature has. He proceeds to describe an event that took place. He and his lover drank out the same glass. When he went to wash the "chalice of ours"(48) and it fell into the pool at the bottom of the falls. They both try and get it back out but they are unable to reach it.

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