Thomas Hardy
British · 19th–20th century
English novelist and poet known for novels such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, as well as a substantial body of poetry.
Connection to Taylor Swift
Hardy's poetry of romantic disappointment and emotional pain connects to Taylor's breakup songwriting tradition.
Notable Works
- A Broken Appointment, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Darkling Thrush
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
A Broken Appointment
Uncle Jerry cites Thomas Hardy's 'A Broken Appointment' as a breakup poem about being stood up, and reads several lines. He calls it 'such a beautiful way to talk about being stood up' and places it in the same emotional category as Cold as You.
The Book of Proverbs (31:10)
“The rubies that I gave up”
A community reader reads "the rubies that I gave up" against Proverbs 31:10 — "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies" — so that the rubies the speaker gives up stand for her own virtue. The allusion was surfaced through Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which quotes the same verse, and it sits naturally among the song's staining and cheapening metaphors: what is given up is something precious and irrecoverable, the relationship recast in hindsight as more carnal than loving.