HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE  H01030  3/8/01   "HARDY'S EPITAPH QUESTION"
===============================================================


From: "Alan Fenwick" <afenwic@attglobal.net>
Subject: Epitaph
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 14:04:09 -0500


I am searching for Thomas Hardy's epitaph.  Can anyone help me, please?
Thanks,
Alan

==========


Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 16:21:27 -0600
From: Bill Morgan <wwmorgan@mail.ilstu.edu>
Subject: Re: Epitaph

Alan,
> 
>         Hardy doesn't have an epitaph in the ordinary sense of the word--that is, some pithy verse cared onto his tombstone.  His grave at Stinsford (where his heart is buried, while the rest of him, cremated, rests in Poet's Corner) says something like:
> 
>  Here lies the heart of 
> Thomas Hardy, O.M.
> Son of Thomas and Jemima Hardy
> 
> He was born at Bockhampton 2 June 1840
> And died at Max Gate Dorchester 11 January 1928
> His ashes rest in Poet's Corner Westminster Abbey
> 
>  I might have some of the details wrong, but I'm pretty sure about the main outlines.  
> 
>         Now, on the other hand, if by epitaph you mean to include his various self-elegies (often appearing as the last poem in a volume of his verse), then there's a substantial list of poems to look at: e.g., "Afterwards," "Surview," "Why Do I?," "He Resolves to Say No More."  
> 
>         Hope this helps.
> 
>                                                         cheers,
> 
>                                                         Bill Morgan

==========