What is the meaning of the word "madding" as used by Thomas Hardy?

Question

It doesn't appear in any online dictionary I can find

Answer 1

The story takes place in rural part of England at the end of 19th century. Beautiful country and good description of many people peacefully living there are great background for love story of Bathsheba Everdene and Gabriel Oak. During the story they both changed very much. At the beginning she is very haughty and arrogant, but becomes delicate and tolerant. Gabriel is at the beginning of the story very tactless and even rude, but very soon becomes loyal and devoted. These changes make possible that those two young people fall in love.

Madding has quite alot of meanings... but Thomas Hardy used it
because the onlookers were wildly excited or confused.

Answer 2

The origin goes back to Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard":

'Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.'

It is possible that Gray was also alluding to earlier works: by William Drummond, circa 1614:

"Farre from the madding Worldlings hoarse discords."

or by Edmund Spenser, 1579:

"But now from me hys madding mynd is starte, And woes the Widdowes daughter of the glenne."

If you know that, then you have the meaning. It means the bustling, noisy, crowded city. Like Thomas Gray, Thomas Hardy relished the peace of a rural setting.

Answer 3

My Chambers dictionary defines it as an archaic word meaning "distracted; acting madly". I reckon Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd" was intended to convey a sense of peace in the slow-moving countryside, away from the bustle of the town, with its crowds moving hither and thither in an apparently pointless fashion.

Answer 4

The title is from Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and evokes the quiet contemplative atmosphere the characters might have aspired to.

Answer 5

i love MB20 , i'm not ashamed to admit it. yet I had under no circumstances said his love of that one note! enable's settle for it. Matchbox 20 isn't precisely the interior maximum music you'll come with the help of. Its basically relaxing.

Answer 6

It's an old form. A modern equivalent would be frenetic.

Answer 7

I believe it is simply short for maddening

Answer 8

I think it means a cacophony of people

Answer 9

i think its from maddening as to get angrier