‘The Departure’ – the tale of how a Hardy poem returned from America to Dorset

Dorset History Centre (DHC) has successfully acquired a poem by author Thomas Hardy which is believed to have been held in America since 2005.  ‘The Departure’ was sold that year at Sotheby’s in London.  It next appeared at an antiquarian dealership in Massachusetts where it was purchased by an American collector in 2014.

More recently, the poem then appeared at auction in Chicago in June 2024.  DHC was able to bid for the poem with generous support from the Friends of the National Libraries who funded the acquisition.  After nearly 20 years overseas, we are pleased to report that this fascinating piece of literary heritage is now safely back in Dorchester where it will remain as part of the larger Hardy archive, currently being catalogued in a project that will open up public access.

The full text of the poem reads:

The Departure (Southampton Docks: 1899)

Here, where Vespasian’s legions struck the sands

And Cedric with his Saxons entered in,

And Henry’s army leapt afloat to win

Convincing triumphs over neighbour lands,

Vaster battalions press for further strands,

To argue in the selfsame bloody mode

Which this late age of thought, and pact, and code,

Still fails to mend. – Now deckward tramp the bands,

Yellow as autumn leaves, alive as spring;

And as each host draws out upon the sea

Beyond which lies the tragical To-be,

None dubious of the cause, none murmuring,

Wives, sisters, parents, wave white hands and smile,

As if they knew not that they weep the while.

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