Thomas Hardy believes that man accepts the idea of God as being a derivative of his own perception. In this respect he tries to describe God out of his own experience in his poetry, based on ’theogonic wish’ in which man transcends his own nature by projecting his ideals onto a perfected double of himself. As a kind of Agnostic, Atheist, Infidel or Pessimist, Hardy thinks Christianity as dying creed. In this respect, he attempts to question, complain about God or justify man’s ways to his own man-projected God conversing with Him face-to-face in his poetry. Hardy imagines a fiendish, malignant, absent and apathetic God who torments human beings indifferently or who can give men only neutral-tinted haps and such. For him there is no longer benevolent, omniscient or omnipresent God who has purpose, love or mercy for His Creatures. So Hardy visualizes God such as ‘Crass Casualty,’ ‘Time,’ ‘purblind Doomsters’ in “Hap,” or ‘Vast Imbecility,’ ‘Automation’ in “Nature’s Questioning” and ruthless ‘blind force’ in “A Philosophical Fantasy.” Furthermore, he shows us the image of dead God in “God’s Funeral.” In Hardy’s world where God is dead or absent, he urges us to create our own order and meaning and struggle to establish love and relationship between men keeping in mind the doctrine of nobler feelings toward humanity and emotional goodness.
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