Bok: "Under the Greenwood Tree"

Eg har nå skumma gjennom "Under the Greenwood Tree":p Det har ingenting med at ho var på engelsk, det har med at eg har sett filmen. Den er heilt nydelig, og eg kan ikkje sjå meg mett på an:p

Handling i "Under the Greenwood Tree": The plot concerns the activities of a group of church musicians, the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new school mistress, Fancy Day. The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir - including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and grandfather William Dewy - making the rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve. When the little band plays at the schoolhouse, young Dick falls for Fancy at first sight. Dick, smitten, seeks to insinuate himself into her life and affections, but Fancy's beauty has gained her other suitors, including a rich farmer and the new vicar at the parish church.

The vicar, Mr. Maybold, informs the choir that he intends Fancy, an accomplished organ player, to replace their traditional accompaniment to Sunday services. The tranter and the rest of the band visit the vicar's home to negotiate, but reluctantly gives way to the more modern organ. Meanwhile, Dick seems to win Fancy's heart, and she discovers an effective strategem to overcome her father's objection to the potential marriage. After the two are engaged secretly, however, vicar Maybold impetously asks Fancy to marry him and lead a life of relative affluence; racked by guilt and temptation, she accepts. The next day, however, at a chance meeting with the as-yet-unaware Dick, Maybold withdraws his proposal; and Fancy, simultaneously, has withdrawn her acceptance.

The novel ends with a humorous portrait of Reuben, William, Mr. Day, and the rest of Mellstock rustics as they celebrate the couple's wedding day. The mood is joyful, but at the end of the final chapter, the reader is reminded that Fancy has married with "a secret she would never tell" (her final flirtation and brief engagement to the vicar). While Under the Greenwood Tree is often seen as Hardy's gentlest and most pastoral novel, this final touch introduces a faint note of melancholy to the conclusion.

One of Thomas Hardy's most greatly loved and gentlest books, Under the Greenwood Tree is an unashamed idyll and picturesque portrait of the long-vanished pastoral society of early Victorian England. It was the book which established Hardy as a writer and the ideal vehicle for him to express his affection and love for the Wessex countryside, rural life and characters in all seasons and moods. As a humorous study of resistance to change Under the Greenwood Tree will strike a chord with the modern day reader.

XOXO