<P> Poems of the Past and the Present is the second collection of poems by English poet Thomas Hardy, and was published in 1901 . A wide - ranging collection, divided into five headings, it contains some of Hardy's most powerful and lasting poetic contributions . </P> <P> The unusually favourable reception of the collection was due in large part to its opening with the section of' War Poems', many previously published independently, and welcomed by the public for their treatment of the Boer War - the seminal Drummer Hodge being the outstanding example . </P>

Poems of the past and present thomas hardy