HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H01007 1/11/01 "HARDY AND R.S.WALKER" ================================================== From: "Patrick Roper" Subject: Hardy & Hawker Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 17:49:07 -0000 I am curious to know if Thomas Hardy ever had any contact with Robert Stephen Hawker, the poet and parson of Morwenstowe about 15 miles north of St Juliot in North Cornwall. Hawker, who was a great enthusiast for Arthurian material and Cornwall's history, language and folklore must, I imagine, have been known through his literary work to TH and through his involvement with the church to Emma Gifford. Quite a bit of Hawker's work was published not long before Hardy went to Cornwall in 1870 and Hawker was in good health until 1873 and lived until August 1875. Part of my reason for asking is that both Hawker and Hardy use the form 'Dundagel' for 'Tintagel', the former considered by Hawker to be the more authentic Cornish language version. Hardy was obviously aware of the normal 'Tintagel' usage and I wonder if he preferred 'Dundagel' in The Famous Queen of Cornwall because of the claims made for the word by Hawker. Also, if he had met or corresponded with Hawker, he would surely have gathered much information on Cornish history and folklore some of which may well be reflected in his work with a Cornish setting. Just for the record 'Tintagel' probably derives from Old Cornish 'Dun Tagell' meaning 'Fort of the Throat' and the second word should be pronounced with a hard 'g''. The word might, however, be Norman French 'Tintagol'. Patrick Roper ========== Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 14:38:51 -0600 From: Bill Morgan Subject: Re: Hardy & Hawker Patrick (& others)-- ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThe short answer is that Hardy did not meet Hawker; but there may be more to be said on the matter.Ê Here's what Hardy wrote in a letter to John Lane on 10 December 1913: ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ"Hawker, though bigoted and superstitious to a degree, had the imagination of a true poet, and I regret that I never met him.Ê It was by the merest chance that I did not.Ê When Mrs Hardy before her marriage was living at the rectory of St Juliot, near Hawker's parish, with her sister and brother-in-law, Rev. C. Holder (who knew Hawker) we used often to talk of driving to Morwenstow, but unfortunately never did." ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊAnd to John Drinkwater he wrote on 5 Nov 1926: ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ"Your letter drew my attention to the paragraph in the Hawker article.Ê What I may have told you was that a relative of mine was the rector of St. Juliot, on the same coast as Morwenstow, & on neighbourly terms with Hawker, & that on my frequent visits the St. Juliot people often said they would drive me across to see him.Ê But we put off & put off going, & then heard that Hawker was dead."Ê ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊAccording to Millgate's note on the latter letter, Drinkwater had attributed to Hardy a story that actually belonged to Edmund Gosse: that he had travelled to Hawker's parish to meet him, only to be greeted upon his arrival by Hawker's funeral bell.Ê ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊBut even though they didn't meet, it's obvious that Hardy knew something of Hawker's work by December of 1913, though he apparently did not own all of Hawker's poems at the time (he asks John Lane on December 7 if there is "a volume of good type & handy published of the complete poetical works of Hawker of Morwenstow?").Ê Perhaps he owned a selected poems?Ê Perhaps he had been reading Hawker for years?Ê ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊHope this helps.Ê ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊcheers, ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊBill Morgan ==========