Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English
novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement.
The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-imaginary county of
Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and
circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his fifties, has
come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after the
1960s Movement.