Thomas Hardy
Short stories are a perfect way to enjoy and appreciate classic literature in reader-friendly, bite-sized chunks. This collection of perfectly polished little gems from Thomas Hardy, author of works such as Return of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd, offers a great introduction to this renowned author.
Many of Thomas Hardy's best-known works of fiction were set in the Dorset region, which he called "Wessex." Many of these poems, written over a period of 30 years, are also set in and deeply influenced by the Wessex landscape. Although Hardy considered himself to be more a poet than a novelist, this was his first published collection of verse.
23) Selected poems
In this epic historical drama in verse form, Thomas Hardy brings the same level of realism and gritty detail to a poetic retelling of the Napoleonic Wars that he honed in novels such as Far From the Madding Crowd and Jude the Obscure. Hardy himself considered The Dynasts to be his masterpiece, and though critical response was initially lukewarm, modern-day readers and critics have come to appreciate the vast scope and literary
...One of Hardy's more critically acclaimed collections of verses, Time's Laughingstocks focuses on lyrical explorations of love, death, and the inevitable overlap between the two. The collection also contains a number of poems in which historical characters offer dramatic monologues, including a Roman soldier who feels a special kinship with Jesus.
Known for such novels as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy delves deeper into the genre of historical romance in this stirring portrait of the various entanglements and amorous intrigues that arise among a group of church musicians in rural England. Hearts are broken along the way, and though the novel ends with a wedding, did the right pair find each other in time? Under the Greenwood Tree
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