Thomas Hardy

1840 - 1928 *

author of novels, short stories and poetry, portraying the rural poor as victims of fate.

Hardy's works are primarily concerned with the suffering of the rural poor, and the rise of industry and injustice. He believed in a degree of determinism - the rural poor never win. He was a member of the naturalist movement, seeing human beings as the victims of destiny or fate.

Hardy's objective presentation lead to him being attacked for atheism and pessimism.

Most of his stories are set in real towns in Wessex, which he gives fictional names.

Later in his life, Hardy returned to writing poetry. He composed 900 very diverse poems, each using a unique form and different techniques.

          Source: Classics Network Editorial Team

English poet and regional novelist, whose works depict the imaginary county "Wessex" (Dorset). Hardy's career as writer spanned over fifty years. His earliest books appeared when Anthony Trollope (1815-82) wrote his Palliser series, and he published poetry in the decade of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Hardy's work reflected his stoical pessimism and sense of tragedy in human life.

"Critics can never be made to understand that that the failure may be greater than the success... To have the strength to roll a stone weighting a hundredweight to the top of a mountain is a success, ... [read entire biography]

          Source: Petri Liukkonen

These essays offer analysis of the author's life and works. Many of them have been submitted by users, and are assigned an Editorial Rating on a scale from one to five stars to assist you in evaluating their worth. See also: Note on Essays, Editorial Policy.

     

"The Woman Pays" or: Fate Represented by the Male Sex in Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles -- How Tess Durbeyfield struggles against the patriarchal world in which she lives.
By Christina Grabner, Undergraduate Student	Editorial Rating:

The Seasons of Love -- The Role of the Heath in Hardy's "The Return of the Native"
By Sarah Jane Stetina, Student	Editorial Rating:

Tess Of The D'Urbervilles: Heroine or Whore -- Looking deeper into Thomas Hardy's famous novel and the big question: is the lead character really a hero?
By Matthew Rowland, Undergraduate Student	Editorial Rating:

The character of Eustacia Vye -- The essay is on Eustacia Vye Hardy's wonderful creation in The Return Of the Native. The essay tries to analyse her critically and sees Hardy's Thoughts Behind her creation.
By Saprovo goswami, Student	Editorial Rating:

     

Miscellaneous

		Thomas Hardy Resource Library -- a well-organised set of links to articles, reviews, and electronic texts http://pages.ripco.net/%7emws/hardy.html Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 1325 2 users have rated it an average of 1.5 stars     [rate it] Thomas Hardy's 'An Imaginative Woman' -- an article on the text by Martin Ray http://www.abdn.ac.uk/english/imaginat.h... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 377 0 users have rated it an average of 0 stars     [rate it] Thomas Hardy Online Society -- download the 'Hardy Multimedia Guide', an interesting program which offers critiques of Hardy's novels and multimedia features http://www.webuser.com/hardy/ Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 585 3 users have rated it an average of 1.67 stars     [rate it] Hardy at the Academy of American Poets -- biography and selected bibliography http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prm... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 258 0 users have rated it an average of 0 stars     [rate it]

     

When false things are brought low,
And swift things have grown slow,
Feigning like froth shall go,
Faith be for aye. -- Between us now.

Thomas Hardy

Whence comes solace? Not from seeing,
What is doing, suffering, being;
Not from noting Life's conditions,
Not from heeding Time's monitions;
But in cleaving to the Dream
And in gazing at the Gleam
Whereby gray things golden seem. -- On a fine Morning.

Thomas Hardy

Why doth IT so and so, and ever so,
This viewless, voiceless Turner of the Wheel? -- The Dynasts. Fore Scene. Spirit of the Pities.

Thomas Hardy

A local thing called Christianity. -- The Dynasts. Spirit of the Years. Sc. 6.

Thomas Hardy

Aggressive Fancy working spells
Upon a mind o'erwrought. -- The Dynasts. Act i. Sc. 6. Napoleon.

Thomas Hardy

Ere systemed suns were globed and lit
The slaughters of the race were writ. -- The Dynasts. Act ii. Sc. 5. Semichorus.

Thomas Hardy

My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading. -- The Dynasts. Spirit sinister.

Thomas Hardy

A nice unparticular man. -- Far from the madding Crowd.

Thomas Hardy

A little one-eyed blinking sort of place. -- Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Thomas Hardy

Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle. -- The Hand of Ethelberta.

Thomas Hardy

More quotes by this author are available...

Additional searches

Hardy at Encarta Encyclopedia

Hardy at Britannica Encyclopedia

Hardy at Xrefer.com