my Xu Zhimo

The main impression left upon the mind after perusal of Mr Hardy's new volume is admiration, mingled with some perplexity, at his mastery of technique. It is surprising that gifts so high should be contentedly devoted to subjects on the whole so narrow; and as we consider the manner in which these subjects are handled, we are confronted by a further problem; for how is it possible for a writer to be at the same time so poetic and so casual?

Mr Hardy pursues his course with excellent skill, avoiding every pitfall. His poetic tact is unsurpassable. The temper he writes in is exactly that which could alone give credibility, artistic justice, and a natural appeal to the point of view he is expressing.

What is the force of such a passage as this, if not the easy nonchalance, the unconscious, conversational tone given to a statement against which every fibre of poetry in us stiffens and rebels? If it were less casual, might it not be almost offensive?

Mr Hardy, in using these queer conversational forms...

Mr Hardy is, in fact, casual or coversational in tone, but not in workmanship.

Like Meredith, Mr Hardy, whatever else he disbelieves in, believes in the strength and permanence of truth. Like Meredith, he aims at adhering in his poetry with scrupulous care to the facts which he believes to be before him.... But Mr Hardy will not, any more than whould Meredith, have poetry at the expense of truth...

Unsigned review in The Ahenaeum (8 January 1910), No. 4289.