A Tribute to Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
Thomas Hardy lived eighty-seven years, from a cottage in Dorset to a house he designed himself, never straying far from the landscape that shaped his imagination.
June 2: Born at Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, in the cottage his great-grandfather built. The baby seemed lifeless until the midwife exclaimed, 'Dead! Stop a minute: he's alive enough, sure!'
Attended the village school, then a school in Dorchester. A frail, sensitive child who loved reading and music.
Apprenticed to architect John Hicks in Dorchester. Began studying Greek and Latin on his own, walking to work at dawn.
Moved to London to work for Arthur Blomfield, a prominent church architect. Wrote poetry in his spare time.
Returned to Dorset due to poor health. Wrote his first novel, 'The Poor Man and the Lady,' never published.
Sent to Cornwall to inspect a church; met Emma Lavinia Gifford, who would become his first wife.
Published 'Desperate Remedies,' his first novel, at his own expense.
'Under the Greenwood Tree' published. Began 'A Pair of Blue Eyes.'
'Far from the Madding Crowd' serialized in Cornhill Magazine, anonymous but clearly by 'the author of Under the Greenwood Tree.' Married Emma Gifford.
'The Return of the Native' published. The Hardys moved to London, though he never felt at home there.
Moved to Max Gate, the house Hardy designed himself on the outskirts of Dorchester. He would live there forty-three years.
'The Mayor of Casterbridge' published—his first great tragedy.
'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' published after rejection by two magazines for its frankness. Controversial and celebrated.
'Jude the Obscure' published. The Bishop of Wakefield burned his copy. A critic called it 'Jude the Obscene.' Hardy turned from fiction to poetry.
'Wessex Poems,' his first volume of verse. He was fifty-eight, returning to his first love.
'The Dynasts,' his epic verse drama of the Napoleonic Wars, published in three parts.
Emma died suddenly on November 27. Grief unlocked some of Hardy's finest poems, the 'Poems of 1912-13.'
Married Florence Dugdale, his secretary, thirty-nine years his junior. The marriage was quiet but devoted.
January 11: Died at Max Gate. His ashes were buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey—but his heart was buried at Stinsford, in Emma's grave, where he belonged.
Hardy wanted to be buried at Stinsford, beside Emma. But public demand insisted on Westminster Abbey. A compromise was reached: his ashes went to Poets' Corner, but his heart was cut out and buried at Stinsford in Emma's grave. Two places claimed him, as perhaps they always had.