I Look into my Glass
Author: Thomas Hardy
1898
‘I Look into my
Glass’ was published in Thomas Hardy’s first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, in
1898. Hardy was then nearly sixty, and the poem reflects his growing awareness
of age.
I look into my glass,
And view my wasting skin,
And say, ‘Would God it came to pass
My heart had shrunk as thin!’
For then I, undistrest
By hearts grown cold to me,
Could lonely wait my endless rest
With equanimity.
But Time, to make me grieve,
Part steals, lets part abide;
And shakes this fragile frame at eve
With throbbings of noontide.
About the Author
Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset, England in 1840. As a
novelist he is best known for his work set in the semi-fictionalized county of
Wessex including, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. He was also
an accomplished poet. Hardy died in 1928. His ashes are in the Poets' Corner of
Westminster Abbey and his heart is buried in Stinsford with his first wife.
Sources and
Additional Information:
https://interestingliterature.com/2016/12/02/a-short-analysis-of-thomas-hardys-i-look-into-my-glass/