History Creator / ThomasHardy

After publishing ''Jude the Obscure'' in 1895, Hardy retired from novel writing and devoted the rest of his life to writing poetry; his pessimistic but often witty and touching lyric poems were an influence on Creator/PhilipLarkin among others.

** Hardy always wanted to be a poet and believed that poetry had a "supreme place in literature". However, he wrote novels because [[MoneyDearBoy it was more lucrative, and he wouldn't earn a living if he started as a poet]]. With the success of ''Tess of the D'Urbervilles'' and ''Jude the Obscure'', he returned to writing poetry for the rest of his life. That said, Hardy is better known as a novelist than as a poet.
** Regarding his career as a novelist, Hardy considered ''Jude the Obscure'' his favorite and best novel, but it was harshly received at the time. At least one reviewer called it "Jude the Obscene", and Hardy himself claimed that the Anglican bishop William Walsham How burned his own copy. The harsh reception of the novel was one of the factors that stirred Hardy into writing poetry for the rest of his life (in addition to his preference to being a poet), but subsequent scholars and readers [[VindicatedByHistory have taken Hardy's side]].
* MissingEpisode: ''The Poor Man and the Lady'', Hardy's first novel, was rejected by at several publishers. He reused elements in other works and eventually destroyed the manuscript. No copies are believed to survive.
* MoneyDearBoy: Hardy only wrote novels so that he could earn a living; his real passion was poetry, and the success of ''Tess of the D'Urbervilles'' and ''Jude the Obscure'' allowed him to devote himself full-time to the less lucrative career of a poet.

* UnconventionalFormatting: As a poet, he liked to experiment with unusual stanza forms, many of which he invented himself; he wrote hundreds of poems and it's rare to find two with the same format or rhyme scheme.

-->''"Let him to whose ears the low-voiced Best seems stilled by the clash of the First,\\

-->--'''Thomas Hardy''', from ''In Tenebris''

!! Works by Thomas Hardy with their own pages:

* MoneyDearBoy: Hardy only wrote novels so that he could earn a living; his real passion was poetry, and the success of ''Tess of the D'Urbervilles'' and ''Jude the Obscure'' allowed him to

** Regarding his career as a novelist, Hardy considered ''Jude the Obscure'' his favorite and best novel, but it was harshly received at the time. At least one reviewer called it "Jude the Obscene", and Hardy himself claimed that the Anglican bishop William Walsham How burned his own copy. Subsequent scholars and readers [[VindicatedByHistory have taken Hardy's side]].
* NoWomansLand: Hardy's England was a place of wife-selling, bad marriages, sexual assault, poverty and little to no access to education.
* UnconventionalFormatting: As a poet, he liked to experiment with unusual stanza forms, many of which he invented himself; he wrote hundreds of poems and it's rare to find two that have the same format or rhyme scheme.

After publishing ''Jude the Obscure'' in 1895, Hardy retired from novel writing and devoted the rest of his life to writing poetry; his pessimistic but often funny and touching lyric poems were an influence on Creator/PhilipLarkin among others.

* UnconventionalFormatting: As a poet, he liked to experiment with unusual stanza forms; he wrote hundreds of poems and it's rare to find two that have the same format or rhyme scheme.

* TheEpic: ''The Dynasts'', a [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespearean]] poetic drama about UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, has nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes, has a cast of hundreds and a GreekChorus of disembodied spirits, and runs almost 800 pages. Needless to say, Hardy never intended it to be staged.