HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H29/98 4/16/98 "THE SPELL OF THE ROSE" ========================================================== Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 17:12:35 -0400 From: David Harris To: HARDY-L@coyote.csusm.edu Subject: "The Spell of the Rose" What is meant by the line "And misconceits raised horrid shows" in Hardy's poem The Spell of the Rose?  Was Thomas and Emma's estrangement the result of a mutual inability to understand each other?  The poem Without Ceremony seems to indicate that he did not understand her practice of "vanish[ing] without a word."  I'm curious to know if her journals indicate what steps she was taking to "end divisions dire and wry. DAVID HARRIS ========== Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 15:11:17 -0800 To: HARDY-L@coyote.csusm.edu From: Betty Cortus Subject: Re: "The Spell of the Rose" To respond at least to part of your question David, I would paraphrase the line "And misconceits raised horrid shows" as "And misunderstandings caused horrible scenes between us." According to F.B. Pinion _A Commentary on the Poems of TH_ (Macmillan, 1976), Emma did plant a rose bush at Max Gate shortly before her death, and by 1918 it had grown to be quite luxuriant. No doubt it reminded Hardy of his late wife and the problems that had divided them. Betty Cortus, hardycor@mailhost2.csusm.edu ==========