FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

April 2021

John Schlesinger

Great Britain 1967

John Schlesinger made the most interesting screen version of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel. What the film lacks in psychological depth is compensated by superb photography, which provides a haunting and occasionally sublime visual metaphor for Hardy’s narration. 

Far From the Madding Crowd deals with the destiny of a small rural community in the fictitious region of Wessex; a literary invention based on Hardy’s native county of Dorset. Hardy sets his tragic tale of humanity bound by nature, within the disappearing rural order of 19th century England. Tenacious readers of Thomas Hardy will be rewarded by his evocative descriptions of landscape and acute observation of human nature. The objective and sympathetic rendering of his female heroines set him aside as one of the great innovators in the history of English literature

Language level:

Almost minimalist but with the occasional use of 19th century English

Key Words and Expressions:

To rear a lamb

Hanging about her

A snug farm

Shepherd

I will lose my stripes

You will lose your wages

A bailiff

She looks in her shoes to put her nightcap on

He saved your ricks

Hay rick

Threshing machine

To live up to your name

Valentine Card

Fodder

Foolish Valentine

Shearing (sheep)

Odd

Flung over the pulpit

Unworthy

To play pranks

If I show to him my boldness

Harvest time

To reap

Reap what you sow…

Haymaking

Make hay while the sun shines

Caterpillar

Naked

Dancing girls

Impertinence

You ought to…

Snag

A carouse

White feather

Tie the ropes 

Hold on…

Can you take the weight?

A terrible sight

I will save 10% of my corn

Grief

I wasn’t jilted

Cock fighting

The workhouse

A proper lodging

Corn exchange

To raise some cash

To grumble

Romance ends with marriage

Drowned

Washed out to sea

Alright mate…

You won’t live to tell the tale

My brave

Her breathings are over