The author was successively lecturer and professor at the University of Hull from 1961 until 1997. He is primarily a Shakespearean scholar, but his books and articles range widely, from Greek and medieval romance to Renaissance tragedy, the writings of William Morris and WB Yeats, and the novels of Conrad and William Trevor. He is also the author of a historical work, Bloodstains in Ulster, and a family memoir, Two Brothers, Two Wars. From the Western Front to the Burmese Jungle.

• PrologueAcknowledgements1.Time and Change: the Mutability Tradition2. Hardy I: Joy3. Hardy II. Pessimism4. Yeats I: Faerie and Byzantium5.Yeats II. The World of Time and Change6. Larkin I: The Idealist7. Larkin II. The Sad Pessimist Epilogue

The author was successively lecturer and professor at the University of Hull from 1961 until 1997. He is primarily a Shakespearean scholar, but his books and articles range widely, from Greek and medieval romance to Renaissance tragedy, the writings of William Morris and WB Yeats, and the novels of Conrad and William Trevor. He is also the author of a historical work, Bloodstains in Ulster, and a family memoir, Two Brothers, Two Wars. From the Western Front to the Burmese Jungle.

• PrologueAcknowledgements1.Time and Change: the Mutability Tradition2. Hardy I: Joy3. Hardy II. Pessimism4. Yeats I: Faerie and Byzantium5.Yeats II. The World of Time and Change6. Larkin I: The Idealist7. Larkin II. The Sad Pessimist Epilogue

The author was successively lecturer and professor at the University of Hull from 1961 until 1997. He is primarily a Shakespearean scholar, but his books and articles range widely, from Greek and medieval romance to Renaissance tragedy, the writings of William Morris and WB Yeats, and the novels of Conrad and William Trevor. He is also the author of a historical work, Bloodstains in Ulster, and a family memoir, Two Brothers, Two Wars. From the Western Front to the Burmese Jungle.

• PrologueAcknowledgements1.Time and Change: the Mutability Tradition2. Hardy I: Joy3. Hardy II. Pessimism4. Yeats I: Faerie and Byzantium5.Yeats II. The World of Time and Change6. Larkin I: The Idealist7. Larkin II. The Sad Pessimist Epilogue