Selected Poems

Although best remembered today for his novels, Thomas Hardy thought of himself as a poet forced by circumstance to write fiction for a living. This generous selection of nearly two hundred poems includes such familiar pieces as " During Wind and Rain," " Channel Firing," " Afterwards," " The Darkling Thrush," and " The Oxen," but it will also acquaint readers with many less-celebrated works, among them " To Lizbie Browne," " After the Last Breath," " My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound," " The Haunter," " Old Furniture," " A Procession of Dead Days," " The Harbour Bridge," " At a Country Fair," " Last Love-Word," " Waiting Both," and " Proud Songsters." With an introduction and annotations by Robert Mezey, this Penguin Classics edition will help readers to recognize Hardy as one of the greatest English poets of this century.