ABSTRACT
In an essay of 1925, R. W. King suggested that the lyrical functions of Hardy's poetry principally involved the registering of a 'momentary sensation' or 'a brief incident', so that it becomes shaped as:
a significant anecdote, chosen, or invented, not merely for its own sake, but for its value as a symbol, as a 'moment of vision', which gathers up the emotional experience of years. 'Beeny Cliff, for instance, not only renders the radiance of that March day in 1870, but suggests the whole course of the poet's life since then.
