Hardy, Thomas: - Thomas Hardy, an English author, and poet lived from 2 June 1840 to 11 January 1928. A Victorian realist in the mold of George Eliot, he was influenced by Romanticism, notably William Wordsworth's poetry, in both his books and his poetry. He was extremely critical of many aspects of Victorian society, particularly the deteriorating status of rural Brits like those from his own South West England. Although Hardy considered himself primarily a poet and composed poetry throughout his life, his first collection was not released until 1898. He first became well-known as the author of books like Jude the Obscure (1891), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874). (1895). Younger poets (especially the Georgians) who looked up to Hardy during his lifetime praised his poetry. Thomas hardy's semi-fictional Wessex, which was initially based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom but eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire, and much of Berkshire, is the setting for many of his tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances. Thomas Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Gifford in 1870 while on a mission to restore the parish church of St. Juliot in Cornwall.