The title of this novel does not come directly from the text. There is no "Madding" family, or crowd. The main characters are not trying to get "Far" from anything. The title actually comes from Grey's Elegy's Written in a Country Church-Yard. Some of you may remember this poem from Dr. Crowley's class. To refresh your memory, or enlighten yourself, read the poem at this link (http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/Elegy.htm).
This poem is called "meditative" for the narrator meditates on the destinies of the dead buried in the graveyard. The closing stanzas are said to be Grey's own fear about his destiny as a writer.
Why would Hardy choose such a title for this novel? What connections could he be making between what you have just begun to read, and Grey's meditative poem?
9 comments:
in the poem "ELEGY WRITTEN IN
A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD" the author describes the madding crowd as kind of dull and one key, he states,"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way."
based on what i have read in "far from the madding crowd" i don't think that this book or the characters are at all madding crowd like. i think that the book is far from the ways of the madding crowd, and this is what Hardy meant by using this title even thought the poem says far from the madding crowd, Hardy used the same line just in a different way.
I agree with Haley. I think that Hardy used "Far from the Madding Crowd" as a title because the setting is in a country setting, far from the "crowd" in a city and such. The characters are not really that normal either, besides Gabriel Oak.
In the poem, Gray writes that "Far from the Madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life, They kept the noiseless tenour of their way." translating roughly into the crowd's reality is concrete, they don't usually think outside the box or really dig deep into what they want, but they only look to the surface into what is expected of them. The madding crowd is secluded, quiet, and continuous. It meditates on the calmness of the madding crowd's life. Hardy may have chosen this title because the energy is very meditative, very madding crowd esq. The novel connects to the poem because so far, the relationships in the book have become quiet and distant. It seems to me that they aren't even real. With the love triangle on the way, it may relate to the poem because it will be like a burial for two relationships when Bathsheba chooses one man to marry. Bathsheba must seclude herself to choose either love or money.
I agree a lot with what Casey Boucher had to say about it reflecting on the quietness of the book, and with what heather says about the landscape. I believe you see this in the these lines in the poem
"the Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way."
From this I see cool, and noiseless reflecting the quietness in the book "far from the madding crowd and that how I can see why he chose this title for his book.
From my own understanding it looks as if Hardy chose "Far from the Madding Crowd" because it is a novel about an ordinary person from that time period (Gabriel Oak). Gabriel Oak is kind of the only normal, dull character. Bastheba is strange and peculiar in her own ways. So far the details about the settings and time have been kind of dull and boring. So far the story has been kind of meditating. Nothing dramatic or conflicting has really happened.
The book is meditative. Farmer Crick meditates on Bathsheba's actions. The book is far away from the boring madding crowd with all the things that occur and the things that are hapenstance.
The Poem has a very rural setting. One of the main themes of the poem is death. The setting of the poem is in a graveyard filled with simple people who died. It reminds us that we are all on this earth for a short period of time and that we will all die soon. Hardy believes that we are born, fated for something, and then die.
The poem gives a dull, somber, dark perspective on death. The author tries to show that people put too much value on life because we are just going to die anyway.
Maybe the book is titled in such a way because the story is nothing like that of the cemetary or the Madding Crowd. Though its main themes consist of rural life and fate, it is not dull or somber and characters in the story may value their lives and try to do good for themselves even though they will die eventually.
The Title "Far from the Madding Crowd" suggests the avoidance of city life and modern government. Hardy uses a rustic and rural style of writing that is expecially evident in this story on the farms and rural landscapes. Hardy kept away from the ideas city lifestyle because he viewed this negatively and wanted to show that nature and rural life was much more pure and proserous.
I think Hardy used far from the madding crowd as the title of the book because the poem is set in a rural setting and has a similar love complication. Here is where I agree with Casey, that when Bathsheba chooses a man to marry it will be the burial/death of her love to the other two men. She must make the decision to pick between love or money.
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