Thomas Hardy Summary

Biography EssayIn the later years of his long life, Thomas Hardy was probably the most famous English man of letters of his time, his reputation extending throughout the world. He is now generally reg... Read more

In the later years of his long life, Thomas Hardy was probably the most famous English man of letters of his time, his reputation extending throughout the world. He is now generally regarded as both a... Read more

A writer who expressed himself prolifically and successfully in both prose and verse, Thomas Hardy hoped to be remembered for his poetry. Toward the end of his life he remarked that his sole literary ... Read more

In the following essay, Schweik outlines the influence of contemporary religious, scientific, and philosophic thought on Thomas Hardy's writings. A consideration of the influence of contemporar... Read more

In the following essay, Wright considers the role of the erotic in Hardy's short fiction. Hardy published nearly fifty short stories in a variety of periodicals from 1865 to 1900, collecting th... Read more

In the following essay, Ebbatson provides some historical background for “The Withered Arm.” ‘The Withered Arm’ has long been acknowledged as one of Hardy's finest s... Read more

In the following essay, Richardson investigates the impact of science—especially ideas of mating and hereditary—on Hardy's A Group of Noble Dames. The pedigrees of our county fami... Read more

In the following review of Hardy's novels, Moss urges that Hardy be treated as a universalist and not just a regionalist. In a certain book on Japan the traveler asks his guide why all the litt... Read more

In the following essay, Jacobson states that reviewers have often ignored the sophisticated philosophy which led Hardy to test the limits of the use of language in his poetry. Hardy as philosopher? Th... Read more

In the following essay, Taylor discusses how Thomas Gray was a key influence in Hardy's aesthetics and thoughts on the public culture, and how Gray's influence convinced Hardy that his h... Read more

In the following essay, Widdowson presents an overview of critical theory on Hardy, especially in criticism written since the 1960s. Essay titles are an attempt to say much in little, at once synoptic... Read more

In the following essay, Dauner discusses Hardy's poetry, with emphasis on the poet's capacity for lyrical expression of universal emotions. Five minutes before he died, Thomas Hardy pose... Read more

In the following essay, Chew presents a brief biography and a tribute on the occasion of Hardy's eightieth birthday. Thomas Hardy, the foremost living English poet and novelist, attains the age... Read more

In the following essay, published during a period of decline in Hardy criticism, Weber urges a reconsideration of Hardy's literary contributions. Thomas Hardy's first novel appeared in 1... Read more

In the following review, Hawkins comments on a biography of Hardy and new editions of his prose drama and collected letters. Fifty years ago Thomas Hardy died—a fact of which ignorance is barel... Read more

In the following essay, Grossman examines the observers in Hardy's novels and notes that the observer role is the key link between Hardy's narrative technique and the stories that unfold... Read more

"Happiness is an occasional episode in a general drama of pain"-this is the conclusion drawn by one of Hardy's chief women characters, Elizabeth-Jane in his tragic novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. Thi... Read more

Thomas Hardy, a famous poet in the 19th Century, has written some very touching poems. During the period of 1912-1913 Hardy provided readers with some of his most emotive and personal poems. A study ... Read more

Compare and contrast any two of Hardy's poems. The poems should be of a similar theme. Both "I Found Her Out There" and "The Haunter" are poems about Emma, Hardy's beloved deceased wife. While the fo... Read more