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A review by heartsneedle
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
5.0
4.75/5
Victorian-Morality, Violence, Decline
“The band of silver paleness along the east horizon made even the distant parts of the Great Plain appear dark and near; and the whole enormous landscape bore that impress of reserve, taciturnity, and hesitation which is usual just before day. The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, and the great flame-shaped Sun-stone beyond them; and the Stone of Sacrifice midway. Presently the night wind died out, and the quivering little pools in the cup-like hollows of the stones lay still.”
Overall: This was a multilayered and extremely dense blend of anti-romantic and bleak tragedy enclosed within the historical and symbolist representation of human misery. Hardy consistently weaves descriptions of rural life during the Victorian era and the eerie forebodings of disasters in the plot. Tess, the haunting heroine, full of paradoxes, appears to disown her unflinching fate. And yet, despite the pessimism, there is an ecstatic beauty that radiates from the lyrical style that is as nuanced as it is sensitive.
Victorian-Morality, Violence, Decline
“The band of silver paleness along the east horizon made even the distant parts of the Great Plain appear dark and near; and the whole enormous landscape bore that impress of reserve, taciturnity, and hesitation which is usual just before day. The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, and the great flame-shaped Sun-stone beyond them; and the Stone of Sacrifice midway. Presently the night wind died out, and the quivering little pools in the cup-like hollows of the stones lay still.”
Overall: This was a multilayered and extremely dense blend of anti-romantic and bleak tragedy enclosed within the historical and symbolist representation of human misery. Hardy consistently weaves descriptions of rural life during the Victorian era and the eerie forebodings of disasters in the plot. Tess, the haunting heroine, full of paradoxes, appears to disown her unflinching fate. And yet, despite the pessimism, there is an ecstatic beauty that radiates from the lyrical style that is as nuanced as it is sensitive.