Thomas Hardy is a member of the extremely small set of writers widely considered to have written important poetry, novels and short fiction. (Can anybody name another? - I can't!) Perhaps his least known work is his one foray into the literary form not mentioned above - drama. The Dynasts was published late in his career (after 1900) in three parts with two year intervals between successive parts.

Now, having read all the novels and short stories (many twice), I made a decision that I should investigate his poetry and this obscure work about the Napoleonic Wars. The Dynasts of the title are the members of the various important royal and imperial families of the time.

In a preface Hardy notes that it would be impossible to actually produce his drama on a stage but, since it is written in the form of a drama, with scene settings, dialogue and some stage directions only, he will refer to it as such until a better term arrives. That better term has now arrived - it is a film script!

So the film opens at the time when Napoleon was planning to invade Britain (a topic mentioned in at least two other places in Hardy's fiction). Britain is not well prepared as it has not the necessary standing army to repel such an invasion, but the Royal Navy rules the waves - with Nelson in charge. Perhaps an invasion can be averted? Part one ends shortly after the battle of Austerlitz, having taken in the Battle of Trafalgar on the way.

Strangely, perhaps, Hardy uses a pantheon of Spirits, subjugate to the Divine Will, as a kind of chorus, commenting on the action, but also intervening - the Spirit of Rumour taking human form more than once. These Spirits remind me of the symbolic figures populating William Blakes poetry, except that here they have names that are readily understood rather than requiring decoding.

The work is a straightforward read, much easier, in fact, than Hardy's later novels, despite the use of the Shakespearian convention of "high-born" and educated folk speaking in poetry in formal settings. Indeed the early scene in parliament is one of the best. In stark contrast, a later scene shows a few Wessex rustics manning a beacon and speaking the local dialect - this language is so vivid that the humble rural folk take on great stature and character in a way I've only known Hardy to be able to achieve.

The scene describing the Battle of Trafalgar is unique in Hardy's ouvre - he is not renowned for set-piece scenes of epic scale - rather the opposite, yet he handles it with great aplomb; this (perhaps as it should be) is the most memorable scene in Part 1. Blood, fury, fear, bravery, dignity and loyalty all feature.

This is a remarkable work, considering that Hardy has deliberately eliminated one of his great strengths - description of nature and landscape - and I am moving straight on with Part 2.

All Hardy fans should read this and some-one should film it. ( )

795. The Dynasts: A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars... Part First by Thomas Hardy (read 17 Jan 1965) : As Churchill yet clings to life, I have just finished reading Part First of Hardy's The Dynasts. I am impressed, but probably for reasons having naught to do with the literary merit of what I have read. I was stirred by the drama of the times recalled : Ulm, Trafalgar, Austerlitz, the death of Pitt, Nelson dying. "There is one--/Come nearer to me, Hardy--One of all/ As you will guess, pervades my memory now;/ She, and my daughter... Now she rests/ Safe on the nation's honour... Does love die with our frame's decease, I wonder,/ Or does it live on ever?...I'm satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty!" Pitt on hearing of Austerlitz: "Now leave me, please, alone. I'll call anon./ Is there a map of Europe handy here?/ O God that I should live to see this day!/ ...Where's Austerlitz?/--But what avails it where the place is now./ What corpse is envious on the longitude/ And situation of his cemetery!.../ Roll up that map...Twill not be needed now/ These ten years! Realms, laws, peoples, dynasties,/ Are churning now to a pulp within the maw/ Of empire-making Lust and personal Gain/" ( )