Thomas Hardy, an English author, wrote a book titled Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School. The Mellstock Parish Choir, a group of west gallery musicians, and one of their members, Dick Dewy, who develops a romantic interest in the attractive new local schoolmistress Fancy Day, are the protagonists of the novel. Dick first notices Fancy when the choir and fiddlers are making their rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve in the first scene of the book. Dick tries to ingratiate himself into Fancy's life and affections, but the wealthy farmer Shiner and the new parish priest Mr. Maybold are among the other suitors drawn to her attractiveness. Fancy and Dick secretly get engaged, but Fancy's father is initially against it. However, once Fancy stops eating, he changes his mind. Following Fancy's first Sunday service as organist, Maybold drops the question and assures her of a life of great wealth. She agrees, but later finds out that she has already been spoken for when she meets Dick by coincidence. She is warned by Maybold to be truthful with Dick and to break off her engagement with him if she truly meant what she said. How Dick will get her love? Read the complete novel where the author has beautifully crafted the plot.
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.
