Hardy, Thomas

1 page (7 x 4 3/8 in.; 178 x 111 mm), on his personal stationery, Max Gate, Dorchester, 12 October 1914, with stamped envelope and corrected address in his hand; formerly folded. Accompanied by an engraved portrait from a magazine.

See John M. Munro. "Thomas Hardy and Arthur Symons: A Biographical Footnote"  English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920,  vol. 12, 2 (1969), 93-95

formerly folded
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Hardy characterizes his own play "rather a frail reed."

Hardy wrote the verse drama The Dynasts, describing it as "an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes". He devoted much of his later life to its completion, but the work was not well received, and later critics have seen little reason to reverse that judgement.

Mrs. Symons, wife of the British poet (1865-1945), was of a different view, and Hardy responds to her interest: "I fear that 'The Dynasts' is rather a frail reed in the circumstances, even if it should really be produced. The object being a mainly patriotic one the actors are to be asked to take merely nominal salaries, & neither manager nor author thinks of making money by it. I will however tell Mr. [Granville-] Barker what you say." The play was finally produced 25 November 1914, with the help of Henry Granville-Barker, and was "a splendid failure" (Purdy, 1954, p. 135).