Thomas Hardy and the Death of Emma

What His Writings Reveal

Andrew Norman

• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781399051194
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: Literature

A collection of poems reflecting Thomas Hardy's tumultuous marriage to Emma Gifford. In many of his poems, the great Dorset poet and novelist Thomas Hardy referred to a certain romantic courtship, a marriage which became progressively more problematical, and finally to a bereavement in which a man loses his wife. So, who was Hardy writing about? The clue is to be found in his early poems, where the names of several locations in North Cornwall are mentioned, this being the very same place which featured in Hardy's courtship of Emma Gifford, who was to become his first wife. The poems raise certain questions. Given that Hardy and Emma gradually drifted apart so that in the end they lived mainly separate lives, albeit under the same roof, why was he so grief-stricken when she died, bearing in mind that their marriage was so unsatisfactory? How did Hardy cope as he passed through the various stages of grief, which he articulated so poignantly and expressively in his poems? These stages are recognized today, thanks to the work of Swiss-US psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, and US expert on grieving and loss, David Kessler. Finally, how did Hardy survive and come out the other side, and can his experience be a guide to others who find themselves alone and bereft after losing their partner?

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Author’s Note
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Thomas Hardy: The First Seven Decades
• Chapter 2 The Death of Emma (27 November 1912)
• Chapter 3 Bereavement: The Contribution of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler
• Chapter 4 Hardy and the Five Stages of Grief
• Chapter 5 Hardy and the Inner World of Grief
• Chapter 6 Hardy and the Inner World of Grief: Hauntings
• Chapter 7 Thomas Hardy and the Outer World of Grief
• Chapter 8 When Death is Sudden and Unexpected
• Chapter 9 Thomas Hardy’s Personal Experience of Bereavement
• Chapter 10 Hardy’s Feelings of Guilt over his Treatment of Emma
• Chapter 11 Did Hardy and Emma Have Anything in Common at all?
• Chapter 12 Emma’s Mental State
• Chapter 13 Hardy’s Mental State
• Chapter 14 Did Hardy Ever Regret Having Married Emma?
• Chapter 15 Despite all, Hardy, in Retrospect, Strove to See Emma in the Best Possible Light
• Chapter 16 The Important Testimony of Alice (‘Dolly’) Gale
• Chapter 17 Hardy’s Neglect of Emma
• Chapter 18 Hardy and Time; the Afterlife; Einstein
• Chapter 19 Hardy’s Later Years
• Chapter 20 Further Likely Reasons for Emma’s Dislike of Hardy
• Chapter 21 Did Emma Ever Love Hardy?
• Chapter 22 How Did Hardy Survive the Loss of Emma? His Coping Mechanisms
• Chapter 23 How Scientific Advances Have Shed a Different Light on the Authenticity of Religion
• Chapter 24 How Hardy Mourned his Loss of Faith
• Chapter 25 Proof of Hardy’s Recovery, Albeit Fragile!
• Chapter 26 The Death of Hardy (11 January 1928)
• Chapter 27 Science Sheds New Light on ‘Complicated Grief’
• Chapter 28 Aftermath
• Chapter 29 Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• By the Same Author
• Plates