An Interpretation of “I Looked Up From My Writing” – Thomas Hardy

There is often a question of the value of literary works, especially amidst times of war and hardship– where the role of the average person is heightened. In “I Looked Up From My Writing,” Thomas Hardy personifies the moon to address the “blindness” that can come with writing amidst the brutal, often disheartening truth of the rest of the world.

The title– also the first line– “I looked up from my writing” sets up a first-person narrative to introduce the “journey” the speaker encounters that prompts him to grow. While the line “look up” may be a physical action, it has a double meaning: the phrase implies that the speaker has, or will, see something they had never seen before. The poet follows this line with “gave a start to see,” once again hinting at the “story” to follow. The poet uses sight as a symbol for realization and personal growth. The stanza concludes with the moon’s “full glaze” as if she were “rapt in [the speaker’s] inditing.” Hardy once again references the sight, but this time the sight of the moon. Moreover, the moon is personified as a “she” who disapproves of the speaker’s inditing, or writing– giving the moon human-like characteristics and emotions. This suggests that “she” is a powerful constant in most peoples’ lives. This personification of the moon contributes to the scrutiny the speaker faces. In a literal sense, the moon looms over the rest of the world and is cast as a symbol for divinity and higher power, a judge living above humans. 

In the following stanza, the poet describes the moon’s “meditative misty head,” being “spectral in its air”. This diction once again draws attention to the divine features of the moon. Words like “spectral” and “meditative” suggest that the moon is of higher power, a rational judge of humans. Moreover, the diction conveys mysteriousness as the word “involuntary” implies that the speaker cannot hold his curiosity as to what the moon wants and that they must concede to ask her– as if giving in to her power.

The following stanza is a lyrical but dark response to the speaker that provides context to the broader situation. The preceding lines draw attention to bodies of water, such as ponds and waterways, suggesting that the person had died from drowning. Diction like “pond” and “waterway” highlight the moon’s determination to scan and find a resolution for this death: one would typically not find someone drowning in a pond. “Sunken soul” has a dual meaning; it implies that this body has indeed drowned, but it is also a metaphor for mental distress. The phrase “life-light” is a reference to the light of someone’s life. Thus, the death of the man’s son is what caused him to put out his “life-light” and drown himself. 

Next, the poet identifies the body– a man who had killed himself after his son’s death in a “brutish battle”.  Hardy once again incorporates precise diction into his dialogue, like “brutish” and “slain” to convey the discomfort the speaker undergoes. In doing so, the poet draws awareness to the truth of the world beyond what the speaker experiences and paints the speaker as shallow when compared to the speaker with the father and son who had died. 

In the second to last stanza, the moon addresses the contrast between the “truth” of the world and the writer in a more direct way, a shift that allows the poem to come full circle. It suggests that there can be shame associated with focusing on a work of art because it is ignorant. The phrase “A world of such a kind” implies that there is more to the world than what the writer can see– a world with “sorrow” and “brutish” battles. In having the moon –a symbol of divinity– question the writer’s actions, the message conveyed through the dialogue is more powerful; the disapproval of the speaker is more significant. Moreover, by addressing the speaker as “blinkered mind,” one who is narrow-minded, a less literal meaning of “I looked up from my writing” is revealed. 

In the last stanza, the poem finally shifts and the writer addresses the discomfort brought upon by the moon’s dialogue, serving as a reflection and “resolution” to the preceding story. Diction like “overwrought” suggests that the speaker– or the writer– encounters an overpowering feeling of guilt. The guilt is shown in the following line with a reference to sight, “I edged to shun her view.” Once again, sight has a double meaning. While the line can be interpreted as the writer physically shielding themself from the gaze of the moon, to shun is also to reject or avoid. Thus, the speaker intends to avoid addressing the Moon’s concerns, primarily out of shame. 

Moreover, the poem’s rhyming structure contributes to the overall flow of the poem. The poem is structured as follows: ABAB, CDCD, DEDE, and so forth. This structure allows for a better flow, which contributes to the narrative of the poem. Which each stanza, there is a new “chapter” of the poem that contributes to the plot. In conjunction with the first person perspective, the shift in the second to last stanza, and the “reflection” in the last stanza, the reader is left to question the value of writing after learning about the painful truths of the world.