Through camping up at Higher Bockhampton, I was able to visit Stinsford church every day, usually on my way down into Dorchester and then further afield.
Each time I entered the church grounds, I had to have some moments of silence at the grave where Hardy's heart is buried:
Found myself reflecting on the tragic fates of Tess; Jude; Michael Henchard; Eustacia Vye; Giles Winterbourne etc.
I never knew that the former Poet Laureate (1968-1972), Cecil Day Lewis was buried near to the Hardy family graves (have just read that he arranged this to be done through being a massive admirer of Hardy):
Have just found out that the actor Daniel Day-Lewis is the son of Cecil Day Lewis.
Each time I passed through St. Michael's, I, of course, went inside the church:
Had a wonderful conversation with the gentleman in the picture below about whether Hardy really lost his Anglican faith or not:
And we agreed that Hardy may've remained an Anglican subconsciously or 'at heart' despite his criticism of institutionalised Christianity in 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' and 'Jude the Obscure'.
The picture below was my parting shot from St. Michael's:
Through going inside this church each day, I got to have some great conversations about Thomas Hardy and all kinds of other subjects (including of all things, eating black pudding on Bury market) with some of the other visitors there.
No comments:
Post a Comment