The phrase "a rather harsh" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to indicate that something or someone is more severe than expected. For example, "The punishment issued by the judge was a rather harsh one."
This sounds like a rather harsh wake-up call.
It was a rather harsh piece of self-assessment.
A rather harsh slap-down for Hector, who was only reproducing in an email what he heard assorted experts say on the BBC.
"Orchard," an undated oil painting set in winter with a rather harsh red tonality shows that Young could turn impressionist when the occasion warranted.
Wood says the main problem with the buoy stations is that they are hard and expensive to maintain, and because they are located in a rather harsh environment, they have a fairly high failure rate.
Colorado helped Seattle earn their first win of the season last week, and Houston labored against Toronto before scoring a late equalizer in a game that saw them lose Taylor to a rather harsh red card.
Thirty years on, Norman admits that this was all rather harsh: "This was McCartney at the end of the 1970s.
Robert and Jamie are the sons of wartime friends Diana and Meg, and share a love of impossible cliff faces, and an exotic, rather harsh artist called Ruth Phoenix.
As a result of the rather harsh mistreatment of those passengers, the North-South gap has now grown deeper by a few inches.
The rather harsh entry on Spike Lee is a good example of a well-meaning but rigid notion Thomson has that it's almost impossible to be a black artist in America.
For use as a topical therapeutic on the skin, a chassis is required that can survive this rather harsh body niche.
