Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was an English novelist and poet whose work bridged the Victorian era and the early twentieth century. Born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, he trained as an architect before turning to literature. Hardy is best known for his novels set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex, including *Tess of the d’Urbervilles* (1891) and *Jude the Obscure* (1895), which explore social constraint, chance, and moral conflict. After controversy over his late fiction, he devoted much of his later career to poetry, publishing major collections and the epic verse drama *The Dynasts*. He died in 1928.