Poems,a collection of poems written over 30 years.Hardy claimed poetry as his first love,and after a great amount of negative criticism erupted from the publicationofhis novel Jude The Obscure,Hardy decided to give up writingnovels permanently and to focus his literary efforts on writingpoetry. After giving up thenovel form,Hardy continued to publish poetry collectionsuntil his death in 1928.Although hedid publish one last novel in 1897,that novel,The Well-Beloved,hadactually been written prior to Jude the Obscure. Although his poems were not initially as well received by his contemporaries as his novels were,Hardy is now recognised as one ofthe greatest poets ofthetwentieth century.His verse had a profound influence on later writers,notably Philip Larkin,who included many ofHardy's poems in theedition of the Oxford Book ofTwentieth Century English Verse that Larkin edited in 1973 In a recent biography on Hardy,Claire Tomalin argues that Hardy became a truly great English poet after the death ofhis first wife. Emma,beginning with theelegies he wrote in her memory, calling these poems,"one ofthe finest and strangestcelebrations Poems, a collection of poems written over 30 years. Hardy claimed poetry as his first love, and after a great amount of negative criticism erupted from the publication of his novel Jude The Obscure, Hardy decided to give up writing novels permanently and to focus his literary efforts on writing poetry. After giving up the novel form, Hardy continued to publish poetry collections until his death in 1928. Although he did publish one last novel in 1897, that novel, The Well-Beloved, had actually been written prior to Jude the Obscure. Although his poems were not initially as well received by his contemporaries as his novels were, Hardy is now recognised as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His verse had a profound influence on later writers, notably Philip Larkin, who included many of Hardy's poems in the edition of the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse that Larkin edited in 1973. In a recent biography on Hardy, Claire Tomalin argues that Hardy became a truly great English poet after the death of his first wife, Emma, beginning with the elegies he wrote in her memory, calling these poems, "one of the finest and strangest celebrations