Thomas Hardy did not begin his education until late in his childhood. He started to go to school at the age of eight years old and continued on through public school for eight more years. Following these eight years of general schooling Thomas went off to London to study at Kings College for five years after which his father, a stonemason, apprenticed him early to a local architect engaged in restoring old churches. The Royal Institute of British Architects awarded him with a medal because of the excellent work he had done as an architect (Dorset May 12, 1999). Thomas inherited his fathers business, but decided to give it to his brother Henry to take care of, which gave him more free time towards his passion of writing. Hardy worked for this architect for five years while at the same time took up poetry writ

"Hardy, Thomas" Microsoft Encarta 95.

After the success of his first novel Thomas was hired to write a novel for Tinsley's Magazine. The title was to be "A Pair of Blue Eyes" and in parts reflected his relationship with his wife and was published in 1873. This novel was well received by his audiences and after good reviews he began another story, "Far From the Madding Crowd." The setting was in Puddle Town where he had family, so he knew it well, but it was renamed in the story to Weatherbury; an example of how he used places he knew in his writings.

"In 1870 he met Emma Lavinia Gifford, sister-in-law of the vicar of St. Juliot in Cornwall to whom he had been sent to plan a church restoration." (Dorset May 12, 1999) At the time social standings usually affected who got married to whom, but in this case, despite her high social position, Emma and Thomas fell in love and became married four years later.

The final novel written by Thomas Hardy was "Jude the Obscure" in which he subsequently stated that "...sexual attraction is a natural force unopposable by human will" (Microsoft Encarta "Hardy, Thomas"). English critics very harshly criticized "Jude the Obscure" and his wife Emma was outraged at him because "...she took this as an attack on the sanctity of marriage and feared that readers would consider it autobiographical." (Dorset May 12, 1999) That in turn led him to the conclusion that he no longer wanted to write novels, but instead decided to concentrate on writing poetry again as he had earlier in his life.

Emma unexpect

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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)