HARDY, THOMAS. - English novelist and poet, b. at Upper Bockhampton on 2 June 1850, d. at Dorchester on 11 Jan. 1928. His early practice of architecture left its mark on his work, both in suggesting themes, situations, and images, and, above all, in assisting him in the classical construction of his plots and settings. The scenes of his novels are the counties of the ancient Kingdom of Wessex, particularly Dorset.
Hardy’s thought is steeped in positivism: an unconscious will, immanent in the world, manifests itself tragically in the fabric of nature and the obscure life of man.
He wrote: novels (*Desperate Remedies*, 1871; *The Mayor of Casterbridge*, 1884–85; *Tess of the d’Urbervilles*, 1891; *Jude the Obscure*, 1895; *A Changed Man*, 1913); poetry (*Collected Poems*, 1919; his earliest lyrics date to 1865); the drama *The Dynasts, an Epic Drama of the War with Napoleon*... (1931).