The Revisitation: A Poem by Thomas Hardy

A long poem that was almost certainly inspired by memories of a much earlier love affair

“The Revisitation” is the opening poem of the collection entitled “Time’s Laughingstocks” that was published in 1909 by Thomas Hardy. However, it had already appeared in print, in 1904, in the “Fortnightly Review” under the title “Time’s Laughingstocks: A Summer Romance”. It was therefore, in effect, the title poem of the 1909 collection, albeit under a different title, if that makes sense!

The Poem

As I lay awake at night-time
In an ancient country barrack known to ancient cannoneers,
And recalled the hopes that heralded each seeming brave and bright time
Of my primal purple years,

Much it haunted me that, nigh there,
I had borne my bitterest loss — when One who went, came not again;
In a joyless hour of discord, in a joyless-hued July there -
A July just such as then.

And as thus I brooded longer,
With my faint eyes on the feeble square of wan-lit window frame,
A quick conviction sprung within me, grew, and grew yet stronger,
That the month-night was the same,