[Gregory Dowling]

Here's what Larkin wrote about Hardy:

I can't imagine why people say Hardy had no ear. In almost every Hardy poem in the 800 pages, barring one or two about the death of Edward VII and that sort of thing, there is a little spinal cord of thought and each has a little tune of its own, and this is something you can say of very few poets. Immediately you begin a Hardy poem your own inner response begins to rock in time with the poem's rhythm and I think that this is quite inimitable.

I agree with Larkin.

Thanks, Barb, for the links to the old threads. It seems there's nothing we haven't already discussed on this website! But it's always good to have a fresh look at things.