Some Reflections on 'Under the Waterfall'

Abstract

Abstract Thomas Hardy's poem 'Under the Waterfall' has some striking parallels with Cornish legends surrounding the St Nectan's Kieve, a waterfall site on a similar small valley some three and a half kilometres to the south west of the river Valency — the setting for Hardy's poem. The author explores these parallels which were likely to have been known to Hardy and his wife Emma.