Classics Retold

Major Malley's Reel was a well-, known traditional Irish reel - a lively dance tune in quick time. Reels were extremely popular throughout Britain and Ireland in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries, especially at fairs, inns and country gatherings.  The tune evokes the festive atmosphere of Greenhill Fair. The dancers are old bent men. Despite their age they are energetically dancing a cheerful reel.  The lively music forms a striking backdrop to the much darker events unfolding nearby, where Troy secretly meets Pennyways after snatching the note from Bathsheba.  Hardy often places moments of private tragedy against scenes of public merriment.  Major Malley's Reel is a popular country dance tune, easily recognised by Victorian readers. 

In Chapter 50 of Far From The Madding Crowd, the 'sinuosities of her little ear" is one of Thomas Hardy's painterly description of Bathsheba.  Sinuosities mean the curves, winding outlines and delicate folds.   Little ears refers simply to small and finely shaped ears. So, the phrase means graceful curves and intricate folds of her small ears.  Hardy is drawing attention to  tiny details of her anatomy that influenced sergeant Troy and that attracts him to return to her and the comforts of her home and the village. Hardy often pauses the narrative to paint a character almost as if they were the subject of a portrait.  The word sinuosity comes from Latin the sinuosus, meaning full of bends and curves.  It is commonly used to describe winding rivers, roads, or ornamental shapes, and Hardy applies here to the delicate natural curves of the human ears. 

Penetralia is the innermost part of a place. The term is derived from Latin adjective penetralis meaning innermost.  Etymology: Derived from the Latin word penetrare  (meaning to penetrate or pierce).When used as a noun, penetrale often referred to an inner shrine. Penetralia is the most common English derivative. It is generally used in plural form to describe sanctuaries, hidden or private or hard to reach chambers. In Chapter 50 of Far From The Madding Crowd it is used to qualify a premium makeshift resturant in the innermost space allotted for refreshment booths, where Host Trencher, the premium resturant is set, and where Troy comes in search of Pennyways.

Prefiguring is the present participle of prefigure.  It means to show, suggest, or foreshadow something before it actually happens. It can also mean imagining, or visualising an event beforehand. Depending upon the context, the term has specific applications in literature, sociology, and everyday use.  In art and storytelling, prefiguring acts as an early hint or a symbolic precursor of a future event. The author's description of the dark storm at the beginning of the book is prefiguring of the tragic ending. In Chapter 50 of Far From The Madding Crowd, Sergeant Troy in the dressing room of the tent where he is to play as Turpin's Ride within a few minutes peep at his wife Bathsheba Everdene on her raised seat. Troy is in the makeup of Turpin. He is confident that his wife will not recognise him.  But he visualises the consequences of her recognising him by his voice.

Rembrandt Harmenszoom Van Rijn, known mononymously as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, who lived between 16th July 1606 to 4th October 1669. He is one of the great painters of the 17th century. He was born into a well-to-do family; his father was a miller and mother was daughter of a baker.  He was apprenticed to Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburg, a Dutch painter, and then to Pieter Lastman, and with Jacob Pynas  In 1625, Rembrandt, together with his friend and colleague Jan Lievens began to accept students   At the end of 1631 he moved to Amsterdam, and began to practice as a professional portraitist. In Amsterdam he stayed with an art dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, who helped him to launch his career. Later he married Saskia van Uylenburgh, the cousin of Hendrik Van Uylenbirhurgh. She was his model for some of his paintings.  Later, the couple moved to Jodenbreestraat, a street in Amsterdam.  The mortgage to finance the purchase of the house in Jod...

Prancing is the action of moving with energetic springy steps, often characterised by high kicks lively bounding, or a proud, strutting gait. The word is most frequently used to describe animals such as horses, but can also refer to spirited human movement.  The term stems from the 14th century Middle English word "prauncen" and is often related to the Old Danish "pransk" (lively/spirited) or German "prangen" (to show off or be in a splendour) In Chapter 50 of Far From The Madding Crowd, Boldwood use this in his dialogue to Bathsheba, "Hark! What's that prancing?" It merely means: "What's that galloping or stamping about outside?"  Hardy often uses horse related verbs very precisely, and here prancing  evokes the image of an animal stepping high and energetically, drawing attention by its movement and noise.