Poetry Performed Episode 015 - The Year’s Awakening by Thomas Hardy

Episode 015 - The Year’s Awakening by Thomas Hardy
As the calendar turns to January, we awaken ourselves in to 2019 this week with The Year’s Awakening by Thomas Hardy.

Before we get to this week's poem, I just wanted to take a moment to ask you to take a moment to rate and review the show, and make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss an episode.

The Year’s Awakening by Thomas Hardy

How do you know that the pilgrim track
Along the belting zodiac
Swept by the sun in his seeming rounds
Is traced by now to the Fishes’ bounds
And into the Ram, when weeks of cloud
Have wrapt the sky in a clammy shroud,
And never as yet a tinct of spring
Has shown in the Earth’s apparelling;
    O vespering bird, how do you know,
         How do you know?

How do you know, deep underground,
Hid in your bed from sight and sound,
Without a turn in temperature,
With weather life can scarce endure,
That light has won a fraction’s strength,
And day put on some moments’ length,
Whereof in merest rote will come,
Weeks hence, mild airs that do not numb;
    O crocus root, how do you know,
         How do you know?

That was The Year’s Awakening by Thomas Hardy. Born in 1840, Thomas Hardy is one of the most renowned English poets in history. Deeply influenced by a very musical childhood, he led a creative life. In addition to poetry, he was also an accomplished novelist. Beyond his writing, he was influential in the future of English literature, mentoring writers such as Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, and William Butler Yeats. He died in 1928.

Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, or grab the show on SoundCloud!
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/poetryperformed/id1437433844?mt=2#
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/poetryperformed