The Life of Thomas Hardy
days, a reliable indication of the worshipper-from-afar of the belles-lettrist. In this case it was founded on the deepest basic sympathy with the sturdy franklin-class, on an understanding of Hodge and his country that had its roots in inherited feelings rather than in acquired syllogisms. The country yeomanry has been called the backbone of the English nation's character. Although this observation has been repeated so often as to become an article of the British Credo, there is nevertheless some truth in it.
Late in his life the poet enshrined the more tender aspects of his spiritual debt to his mother in the poem called The Roman Road (included in his Time's Laughingstocks):
The Roman Road runs straight and bare
As the pale parting-line in hair
Across the heath. And thoughtful men
Contrast its days of Now and Then,
And delve, and measure, and compare;
As the pale parting-line in hair
Across the heath. And thoughtful men
Contrast its days of Now and Then,
And delve, and measure, and compare;
Visioning on the vacant air
Helmed legionaries, who proudly rear
The Eagle, as they pace again
The Roman Road.
Helmed legionaries, who proudly rear
The Eagle, as they pace again
The Roman Road.
But no tall brass-helmed legionnaire
Haunts it for me. Uprises there
A mother's form upon my ken,
Guiding my infant steps, as when
We walked that ancient thoroughfare,
The Roman Road.
Haunts it for me. Uprises there
A mother's form upon my ken,
Guiding my infant steps, as when
We walked that ancient thoroughfare,
The Roman Road.
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