Thomas+Hardy

=**Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)**=

== toc Thomas Hardy was an English novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Hardy initially gained fame through his novel writing with notable works such as //Far From the Maddening Crowd// (1874), //The Mayor of Casterbridge// (1886), //Tess of the D’Urbervilles// (1891), and //Jude the Obscure// (1895). But, beginning in the 1950s Hardy was also recognized as a major poet.

**Background**
Hardy was born in on June 2, 1840 in Higher Bockhampton, a settlement in England east of Dorchester. Hardy was the eldest of the four children in his family by his father, Thomas Hardy (1811-1892), a stonemason, and his mother Jemima (1813-1904).

Hardy enrolled in regular schooling at the age of eight in Bockhampton, but later transferred to a British school in Dorchester. Hardy continued his schooling up until 1856 at which point he was apprenticed to a local ecclesiastical architect. It was during this time as an apprentice that Hardy privately studied both Greek and Latin. In April 1862, after six years as an apprentice, Hardy moved to London and found work as a draughtsman, drawing up architectural plans.

In 1870, Hardy met Emma Gifford (1840-1912), who, in 1874, became his first of two wives. However, Emma disapproved of elements in Hardy’s writings, like //Jude the Obscure’s// attack on marriage (Millgate) and as the Hardy’s marriage itself deteriorated Emma became more reclusive. In 1905, Hardy met Florence Dugdale (1879-1937), a schoolteacher, and Dugdale became a friend of both Thomas and Emma. After Emma’s death Hardy found his deceased wife’s private diaries and he published some of the pages from them much later in //Some Recollections (//1961). After his first wife’s death, Hardy was remarried to Florence Dugdale in 1914. Hardy’s health declined in 1927 and Florence’s sister Eva, a trained nurse, undertook his care. Hardy died in 1928 of a heart attack at the age of 88.

**Early Literature**
In 1867, after his return from London, Hardy began writing with his first novel //The Poor Man and the Lady//. However, Hardy’s contemporaries who read his manuscript felt that the narrative was an attack on upper-classes apprehensions and advised him not to publish it. From there, it was not until July 1872 that Hardy’s time invested writing became lucrative; Hardy was commissioned to write a serial, //A Pair of Blue Eyes// (1873), which would be published in //Tinsley’s Magazine.// Hardy’s next two novels, //Far from the Maddening Crowd// (1874) and //The Hand of Ethelberta// (1876), similarly were also published as serials.

Later Works
In 1883, the Hardy’s moved again, this time to Dorchester, and Hardy’s writing reflected his change of scenery. Hardy’s //The Mayor of Casterbridge// (1886) is set within Casterbridge, a market town modeled after Dorchester itself. In the late 1880s, Hardy began collecting his short stories, originally published magazines, and compiled them into a two-volume collection, //Wessex Tales// (1888). And, continuing in his prose trend, Hardy then wrote //Tess of the d’Urbervilles// (1891) and //Jude the Obscure// (1895).

Hardy then returned to poetry. While Hardy’s most “productive year” (Taylor) as a poet was in 1866, Hardy had turned away from poetry to write novels in an effort to make a living as a writer, the novel, at the time, was much more commercially profitable. Now, having had success as a novelist and newly financially stable Hardy published //Wessex Poems// (1898)//,// a collection of newly written poems, poems written during Hardy’s years as an active novelist, and poems from the 1860’s which were previously unpublished. The poems of //Wessex Poems// were accompanied by illustrations Hardy drew himself. After Wessex poems, Hardy published another collection, //Poems of the Past and Present// (1902), and //The Dynasts// (1908), an epic drama.

It is Hardy’s movement from a period of successful novel writing to a period successful poetry writing which bridged both centuries that allows Hardy to be regarded as both “a great nineteenth century novelist and a great twentieth-century poet” (Millgate, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).


 * Works Cited**

Taylor, Dennis. “Hardy as a Nineteenth-Century Poet.” //The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy//. Ed. Kramer, Dale. Cambridge: New York. (1999): 183- 203. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

Millgate, Michael. "Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)." //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//, Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.


 * Works Consulted**

Millgate, Michael. “Thomas Hardy: The Biographical Sources.” //The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy//. Ed. Kramer, Dale. Cambridge: New York. (1999): 1-18. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

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