Using 'The Waterfall' as a starting point, discuss the importance of memory in Hardy's poems

Memory is very important in relation to Thomas Hardy's poems as he has a very limited amount of themes which he uses. Although he wrote thousands of poems, his themes are limited to those of death, regret, love, nostalgia, reminiscence, and missed opportunities. All these themes are linked with his memories, and his past. At the beginning of the 20th Century, there was a growing discord between him and his wife Emma. They had met at Cornwall when Hardy was an architect. He stayed for several days at the place where Emma lived and they walked and rode together. Four years later they fell in love and married. At first the marriage seemed to be a success, but as the years unfolded, Emma became increasingly jealous of Hardy's success. When they both moved into Max Gate, a house which Hardy had designed they were living separate lives under one roof. At the end of 1912, when Emma suddenly died, Hardy was shocked and stricken with remorse, and this resulted in his outpouring of poems soon af...