HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H0098 11/6/00 "NOTES AND QUERIES" ============================================== From: Martin Ray Sender: enl090@abdn.ac.uk Subject: Re: Flood in Dorchester Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 09:03:58 -0500 (EST) The main item on the news this morning was that the Frome has burst its banks at Dorchester, which is threatened with flooding and evacuation of some 400 houses. I would imagine that Max Gate should be safe, since there is a steep climb up to it at the back from the water meadow, but perhaps someone in Dorset might like to update us. Martin ---- Dr Martin Ray Department of English University of Aberdeen Aberdeen Scotland, UK ========== From: "helen.gibson" Subject: Fw: Dorchester flooding Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 18:24:49 -0000 Ê ----- Original Message ----- From: helen.gibson To: TTHA Forum Sent: 06 November 2000 13:07 Subject: Dorchester flooding Yes, we have had a good deal of weather!ÊÊÊ The gales and torrential rain have subsided now, leaving the rivers seriously swollen.ÊÊÊ Here, at Cerne Abbas, the flood defence system seems to have held, but the increased volume of water coming down to Dorchester from the Cerne and Sydling valleys, meeting the River Frome just outside the town, has caused floodingÊjust beyond The Grove (down the hill from Hardy's statue), at Burton (near the Sun Inn), and also on the East side of town where London Road is flooded near Grey's Bridge.ÊÊÊ The watermeadows are flooded at Charminster.ÊÊÊ Some houses in these vicinities are affected, but luckily Hardy built Max Gate on higher ground, and Andrew Leah tells me that it has withstood all the vagaries of this turbulent weather.ÊÊÊ Ê Keep your heads high and your feet dry! All good wishes, Helen ========== Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:14:10 -0400 From: Richard Nemesvari Organization: St. Francis Xavier University Subject: Drummer Hodge in Canada My title is a little misleading, but I thought the list might like to know that Hardy's "Drummer Hodge" appeared in the "How Poems Work" column of the Books section of this past weekend's *Globe and Mail.* The short analysis was written by Don Coles, a winner of the Governor-General's award for poetry, which is the most prestigious prize we have in the great white north. The *Globe* is Canada's oldest national newspaper, and it has a wide subscription base, so it's pleasing to see Hardy's poetry get some exposure up here. Richard Nemesvari Department of English St. Francis Xavier University ========== Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 10:38:17 -0500 From: Rosemarie Morgan Subject: Re: Drummer Hodge in Canada >might like to know that Hardy's "Drummer Hodge" appeared in... Canada's >oldest national newspaper ------ Thanks Richard. Can't resist: "And [yet again under] strange-eyed constellations..." Rosemarie ========== Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 10:50:32 -0400 From: Richard Nemesvari Organization: St. Francis Xavier University Subject: Re: Drummer Hodge in Canada Good one Rosemarie! I've never been to the southern hemisphere, and this poem always reminds me about the "strangeness" which exists just outside of one's own experience. Richard ========== Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 12:14:48 -0800 From: Betty Cortus Subject: Allusions to Hardy Allusions to Hardy sometimes seem to crop up in quite unexpected places. For example a review of Julia Markus's book _Across an Untried Sea_, by Christopher Benfey in the November 5, 2000 New York Times Book Review, describes how the book is about the relationship between Charlotte Cushman "one of the towering theatrical figures of her time" and Jane Welsh Carlyle. Benfey uses H's poem "The Convergence of the Twain" as a metaphor for the meeting between Cushman "more battleship than luxury liner" and iceberg (Carlyle). The relationship is hinted at as being a little kinky. The first few lines of the article read: "In Thomas Hardy's over-the top poem about the Titanic disaster, 'The Convergence of the Twain,' we are given first the life story of the ship, then of the iceberg and finally their crushing encounter: 'alien they seemed to be: / No mortal eye could see / The intimate welding of their later history.' Julia Markus has structured her deftly drawn biographical study 'Across an Untried Sea' in much the same way. . . . " The metaphor is extended further throughout the article with more lines from the poem. John Noble Wilford's review of Richard Fortey's _Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution_, in the NY Times Book Review of November 19, 2000 puts Hardy in the picture once again. The author starts out by inviting us to join him for a drink at the Cobweb Inn in Cornwall. From there we proceed to Beeny Cliff: "The place was the setting for a pivotal scene in Hardy's novel "A pair of Blue Eyes" in which the hero slips, and clinging desperately to life at the precipice, feels himself being regarded by the stony eyes of a trilobite fossil imbedded in slate. Hardy knew the cliff's geology and something about trilobites, Fortey observes, but their fossils have never been found there," Wilford then relates Fortey's first encounter with a trilobite fossil as a 14-year-old boy in Wales when he split a rock and saw the creature's eyes seemingly fixed on him: Fortey described them as "more compelling than any pair of blue eyes, there was a shiver of recognition across 500 million years." While it is encouraging to see writers in disciplines other than English reading and quoting Hardy, I must admit to being a little disappointed to learn that there are no trilobites on Beeny Cliff, and that anyone would consider that wonderful Titanic poem "over the top." Betty Cortus ========== From: "J. Houge" Subject: Re: Allusions to Hardy Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 16:06:47 PST Excellent posting. A side note not directly related to the gist of your email. I purchased a CD titled "Titanic: Music As Heard On The Fateful Voyage. The White Star Orchestra." [Rhino cat# R2 72821]. Much to my surprise, there is a recitation by Ian Whitcomb of the poem "The Convergence of the Twain," that is brilliant. I am not necessarily recommending the CD (though it is produced with beauty and respect; and for me, it is a gem in my collection), but if you can gain access to it to listen to this piece, you will not be disappointed. You are right about the "over the top" remark. What a ridiculous thing to say. Jon Houge ==========