Brief Biography of Thomas Hardy

1. Poet and Novelist
Happiness was but an occasional
episode in a general drama of
pain

3. Thomas Hardy(2 June 1840 – 11January 1928)
was an English novelist and poet.
While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and
regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first
collection was not published until1898.
Initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author
of novels
Introduction

4. Thomas Hardy’s life can be divided into three phases:
1. The first phase (1840-1870) embraces childhood,
adolescence, apprenticeship, first marriage, early
poems and his first unpublishednovel.
2. The second phase (1871-1897) is marked by intensive
writing, which resulted in the publication of 14 novels and
a number of short stories.
3. In the third phase (1898-1928), the period of the writer’s
rising fame, heabandoned writing novels and returned to
poetry.
Hardy’s Life in relation to his work

5.  Victorian Age
 Victorian Literature
 Victorian Writers
His Time in history
 Period between 1832 and 1901
 From the Passage of the First
Reform Bill to the Death of Queen
Victoria
 Early Victorian Age 1832-1848
 Mid-Victorian Age 1848-1870
Victorian Age
 Late Victorian Age 1870-1901

6. Victorian Writers
Poets
 Tennyson
 Robert Browning
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 Christina Rossetti
 Matthew Arnold
 G. M. Hopkins

7. Victorian Writers
Essayists
Thomas Carlyle
John Ruskin
Arnold
 Walter Pater

8. Victorian Writers
Novelists
 Bronte Sisters
 Charles Dickens
 William Makepeace Thackeray
 Elizabeth Gaskell
 George Eliot
 George Meredith
 Anthony Trollope
 Thomas Hardy
 Samuel Butler

9. Born on 2nd June, 1840 in the village of Higher[Upper]
Bockhampton in Stinsford parish near the town of
Dorchester in Dorset County,England
Early Life
Jemima Hardy
Mr Thomas

10. Statue of Thomas Hardy in
Dorchester
Stinsford Parish Hardy was enrolled at the age of 8 yrs
Cottage in Dorset where Hardy was born

11.  Childhood pursuits, often spending time alone
wandering the countryside, exploring the flora and
fauna, gaining a profound connection with nature and
the familiar sights and sounds of his rural home county
 Attended the Stinson church with his family, was a
voracious reader, learned to play the violin and
attended local schools studying Latin, Greek, French,
classical literature, and assisted his father in his various
building projects

12. At the age of sixteen, Hardy was taken on as
apprentice to John Hicks, an architect inDorchester
Work before Writing
John Hicks

13. Left in 1862for London to work with architect Arthur
Bloomfield
He worked in an office which specialized in restoration of
churches
London

14.  In 1863 Hardy developed a three-year
romantic interest in Eliza Nicholls
 During these years, he won awards for his
architectural craftwork
 Prize from Architectural Association for country
mansion
 Silver Medal from Royal Institute of British
Architecture for an essay on Architeture
RIBA
Eliza Nicholls
Architectural Association

15. In 1865, he immersed himself in the city's vibrant literary
and cultural atmosphere, studying art, visiting the
National Gallery, attending the theatre, and writing prose
and poetry
• Prose sketch, “How I built myself a house” appeared
in Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal

16.  Five years later, in 1867, concerned about his
health, he returned to Dorset and decided to
dedicate himself to writing
• His First Novel, “The Poor Man and The Lady” was
written
 This novel was rejected for publication
 He met with George Meredith
Meredith Hardy’s First Novel

17. Emma
Hardy met Emma Lavinia Gifford (1840-1912) in 1870.
She was working at the rectory in St. Juliot, Cornwall,
a building project he was working on.
They married in London in1874
Love and Marriage

18.  In 1883, Hardy moved to Dorchester
 In 1885, He moved to Max Gate and lived
there for the rest of his life
 Tess of the D’Urbevilles
 Mayor of the Casterbridge

19.  In 1912, his first wife Emma died
In 1914,Hardy married his secretary,
Florence Emily Dugdale (1879-1937)
 Dugdale was 39 years his junior

20.  In 1919, his collection of poetry was published
 Three volumes of poetry were appeared during his
last decade of life

21. Hardy became ill with pleurisy in December 1927
He died at his home, Max Gate, in Dorchester on 11th
January 1928
Hardy narrated his final poem to his wife while on his
deathbed
His heart is buried in the cemetery of St. Michael's
Church in Stinsford, Dorset, where Emma and
Florence also now rest
His ashes were interred in Poet's Corner of
Westminster Abbey, London, England
Illness and Death

22. His heart is buried in Stinsford close to his parents
and beneath the tombstone of his beloved wife,
Emma
 Most of him, his ashes are buried with spadeful of
Dorset earth in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey
Two Funerals of Hardy

23. The Hungry Cat and Hardy’s Heart

24.  Becomes Grand Old Man of English Letters
 Won Order of Merit
 Won several degrees of honour
Achievements

25. Hardy divided his novels and collected short stories
into three classes:
1. Novels of Character and Environment
2. Romance and Fantasies
3. Novels of Ingenuity
Novels

26. 1.The Dynasts (verse drama)
The Dynasts, Part 1(1904)
The Dynasts, Part 2(1906)
The Dynasts, Part 3(1908)
2. The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at
Tintagel in Lyonnesse (1923) (one-act play)
Drama

27. Poetry was Hardy's first literary love
He wrote poems from the 1860s onward till near his
death, completing nearly a thousand poems (986)
Hardy is now recognised as one of the greatest poets
of the twentieth century
In 1898 Hardy published his first volume of poetry,
Wessex Poems, a collection of poems written over a
period of 30 years
Poetry

28. Philosophy of Life
 Pessimistic view of life
 Life is to suffer at the hands of external
forces
 “…happiness was but the occasional
episode in a general drama of pain”
 Man a mere plaything of an impersonal and
maligned fate
As flies to wanton boys Are
we to the gods,
They kill us for their sport
King Lear Act IV Sc 1 35-37

29. Features of His Works
 Accusing finger at destiny and taking sides with
the protagonist
 His plots hinges on Co-incidences and
mischances
 Close to nature, rural and country scenes
 Characters are mostly ordinary men and women
living close to the soil
 Minor rustics offer pithy humour
 Wessex finds a prominent place in his works

30. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/hard/
http://www.hardysociety.org/
https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/119-2014-02-
19-Thomas%20Hardy.pdf
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/23
Milgate, Michael. Thomas Hardy: His Career as a
Novelist. New York: Random House, 1971.

31. Love is a possible strength in an
actual weakness
A man's silence is wonderful to
listen to
...our impulses are too strong for
our judgement sometimes
There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing
something that isn't there
No one can read with
profit that which he
cannot learn to read
with pleasure
The main object of religion is not
to get a man into heaven, but to
get heaven into him