Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, born on 2 June 1840, in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England, was the eldest son of Thomas Hardy Sr, a stonemason and builder, and Jemima Hand. His parents introduced him to music and books at a young age as he grew up in the isolated family cottage, in close proximity with nature and rural life. In 1867, Hardy completed his first class-conscious novel, The Poor Man and the Lady. However, the manuscript was rejected by several publishers due it its controversial content. In 1874, he had his first financial and critical success with Far from the Madding Crowd. In 1895, Hardy published Jude the Obscure, his most controversial work. It received such intense criticism that Hardy renounced novel writing and returned to verse – his first love. Hardy devoted the rest of his literary career to writing short stories and plays, along with poetry. Hardy published Wessex Poems in 1898 and Poems of the Past and Present in 1902. Both were well received. His next was The Dynasts, an epic drama in verse, which he considered as his magnum opus. Upon his death on 11 January 1928, his heart was buried in his first wife's grave, while the ashes of his cremated body were buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.