'To Lizbie Browne' Thomas Hardy AO3 Contexts

Literary context - ‘Ubi sunt?’

Belongs to a tradition of poems which ask ‘Ubi sunt?’ meaning “Where are they?” by posing a series of questions about the fate of someone, considering the transitory nature of youth, love, time, loss, the past, beauty and inevitability of death - the phrase refers to any poems exploring these themes

Historical context - Hardy’s infatuation

A red-haired gamekeeper’s daughter Elizabeth - Lizbie - was one of his loves, but she ‘scorned him as too young’

Historical/social context - The New Woman

An idea acknowledging changing women’s roles/autonomy in the early 20th century

The woman in this poem does not seem subservient but instead makes choices independent of what the speaker desires - she has autonomy as she does not conform to the will of the speaker

It would have been seen as indecent for a woman to pursue a man for marriage, making men hunters in terms of marriage

There was a Victorian ideology of male responsibility in initiating romantic relationships

Historical context - the influence of women on Hardy

Women had a profound influence on Hardy throughout his life