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Thomas Hardy


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Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), English poet and novelist, famous for his depictions of the imaginary county "Wessex" . Hardy's work reflected his stoical pessimism and sense of tragedy in human life.

Thomas Hardy was born on Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester on June 2, 1840. His father was a master mason and building contractor. Hardy's mother, whose tastes included Latin poets and French romances, provided for his education. After schooling in Dorchester, Hardy was apprenticed to an architect. He worked in an office, which specialized in restoration of churches. In 1874 Hardy married Emma Lavinia Gifford.

At the age of 22 Hardy moved to London and started to write poems, which idealized the rural life. In 1867 Hardy left London for the family home in Dorset, and resumed work briefly with Hicks in Dorchester.

Unable to find a public for his poetry, Hardy turned to fiction. His first novel, The Poor Man And The Lady, was written in 1867, but the book was rejected by many publishers and he destroyed the manuscript. His first book that gained notice, was Far From The Madding Crowd (1874). After its success Hardy devoted himself entirely to writing and produced a series of novels, among them The Return Of The Native (1878) and The Mayor Of Casterbridge (1886).

Tess Of The D'urbervilles(1891) came into conflict with Victorian morality. Hardy's next novel, Jude The Obscure (1895) aroused even more debate. The story dramatized the conflict between carnal and spiritual life. In 1896, disturbed by the public uproar over the unconventional subjects of two of his greatest novels, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure , Hardy announced that he would never write fiction again.

During the remainder of his life, Hardy wrote several collections of poems. His gigantic panorama of the Napoleonic Wars, The Dynasts composed between 1903 and 1908, was mostly in blank verse. Hardy succeeded on the death of his friend George Meredith to the presidency of the Society of Authors in 1909. King George V conferred on him the Order of Merit and he received in 1912 the gold medal of the Royal Society of Literature.

Emma Hardy died in 1912 and in 1914 Hardy married his secretary, Florence Emily Dugdale. From 1920 through 1927 Hardy worked on his autobiography, which was disguised as the work of Florence Hardy. It appeared in two volumes (1928 and 1930). Hardy's last book published in his lifetime was Human Shows (1925).

Hardy died in Dorchester, Dorset, on January 11, 1928. His ashes were cremated in Dorchester and buried with impressive ceremonies in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. Hardy's Winter Words appeared posthumously in 1928.


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Recent Forum Posts on Thomas Hardy

Hardy and the Feminist Critique

I am writing my dissertation on Hardy's heroines in The Woodlanders, Far From the Madding Crowd and Tess. I'm arguing against feminist, or otherwise, suggestions that Hardy was a misogynist. I'm also assessing their claims and considering how much these critics have gleamed for themselves. I'm interested to see what other people feel about Hardy and his heroines. Is he attacking women, their actions and the consequences? Or do you think he is attacking the social hierarchy and showing the limitations on women?

Posted By MissBethany at Sat 28 Jun 2008, 11:18 AM in Hardy, Thomas || 3 Replies

mythological+biblical allusions

hello everyone i am a student at university in Palestine,and am doing a research paper on two writers,one of which are thomas hardy. can anyone please tell me where mythological allusions and/or biblical allusions are found?as in which of his works does he use them most? thank u very much :idea:

Posted By manarbzu at Fri 25 Apr 2008, 3:25 PM in Hardy, Thomas || 7 Replies

tomas hardy nature's questioning

i've got to do a topic on nature's questioning and the problem is that i did not found soemthing on the net if u can help or smoene did already work on

Posted By butterfly88 at Tue 8 Apr 2008, 4:36 PM in Hardy, Thomas || 2 Replies

The Four High Tragedies

While I deeply pity Tess and Jude's dilemma, it always seems as if the author had had his fun of playing his tricks on them, as if he put this dark cloud on their destiny. I found the two earlier tragedies (Return of the Native and Mayor of Casterbridge) more fun to read. They feature these sexy ladies (Eustacia and Lucetta), and the characters move like they're in some kind of play by Shakespeare. I couldn't help but cheer while reading them curse the gods, faint and suffer. In the earlier books there's also this strong sense of place. You can perceive Hardy's pleasure of giving his setting's details. Whether in desolate wastelands or a thriving town you feel as if you're there.

Posted By Sir Bartholomew at Tue 8 Jan 2008, 5:42 PM in Hardy, Thomas || 1 Reply

Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" -Elegy for the death of God and Nature?

In the last stanza of this poem, the poet is surprised at the happy behaviour of the bird : "So little cause for Carolings...". he does not understand the reason of this excitement: "His happy good-night air/Some blessed Hope..." Is "the thrush" possibly comparing itself with the mythological bird of the Phoenix?: "...to fling his soul/Upon the growing gloom". The tone of the poem is quite pessimistic. It seems as if there is no future for humankind; but for all this, don't you think that the role of the songbird is that of providing some kind of "Hope" to humanity? -As the speaker seems to lament the death of God and the death of Nature, could we say that the poem is written in the form of an "elegy" as it also laments the death of the nineteenth century? and what is worse, the newly arrived twentieth century does not seem to offer a better picture for humanity. :idea:

Posted By carpenoctem at Mon 15 Oct 2007, 6:18 PM in Hardy, Thomas || 0 Replies

Thomas Hardy and Tryphena Sparks

Hi everybody, Could anyone tell me about the true relationship between Thomas Hardy and his cousin Tryphena Sparks (eleven years his junior)? It is well known that they lived a passionate love story in the year 1867 and some scholars and critics such as Lois Deacon and Terry Coleman in their book Providence and Mr. Hardy went further by declaring that Hardy begot a child on the sixteen year-old cousin. Needless to know that after her death, he dedicated some poems to her, the most revealing and compromising one is: "Thoughts of Phena at News of Her Death". Was it just the imagination of certain scholars and biographers that tries to make up a false event in their lives (Hardy and Tryphena)? or could that be true? Regards

Posted By carpenoctem at Tue 9 Oct 2007, 5:15 PM in Hardy, Thomas || 0 Replies

Are you digging on my grave?

Is it this 42-line poem of Thomas Hardy an Ode or an Open form? I guess it is an ode because of its elevated tone and stanzaic structure: It consists of seven sixains most of them iambic tetrameters and some of them in iambic trimeters.

Posted By carpenoctem at Tue 9 Oct 2007, 6:51 AM in Hardy, Thomas || 4 Replies

Question on title

In Thomas Hardy's 1874 book, Far From the Madding Crowd, what does the word 'Madding' mean? If it means 'maddening' why did he choose to substitute that word? (I am a work study for a college sociology professor and he wants to know) Thanks busseyel

Posted By busseyel at Tue 11 Sep 2007, 11:30 AM in Hardy, Thomas || 1 Reply

Hardy's Biography by Claire Tomalin

If you're a Thomas Hardy fan I would recommend you read Claire Tomalin's biography of him - The Time-Torn man. I've only read 1 or 2 of his books and it was such a while ago I can't really remember them. I got this book as a present and I have to say I really enjoy it - I think knowing something of the author, their background and life helps you to appreciate their books more. I still haven't got around to reading any more of his books yet but I certainly will at some stage. According to the book his first love was really poetry, he only wrote books to make a living rather than out of love for it.

Posted By dollybird at Thu 30 Aug 2007, 3:28 PM in Hardy, Thomas || 0 Replies

Paying Calls-Thomas Hardy

I need information on the poem Paying Calls by Thomas Hardy. I'd like a critical account of the poem.

Posted By Naadhi at Sat 16 Jun 2007, 6:37 AM in Hardy, Thomas || 0 Replies

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