Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester, on June 2, 1840. He was the son of a local builder and stonemason, Thomas, and Jemima. Hardy was educated locally and at the age of sixteen, he began an apprenticeship with a Dorchester architect, John Hicks. In 1862, he moved to London and found employment with another architect, Arthur Blomfield. It was during this time that Hardy began to write poetry and published an essay. By 1867, he had returned to Dorset to work as Hicks' assistant and started his first (unpublished) novel, "The Poor Man and the Lady."
Hardy's writing career took off after he met his first wife, Emma Gifford, in 1870. Before their marriage in 1874, he had published four novels and was earning his living as a writer. Over the next few years, Hardy produced some of his most well-known works, including "Far from the Madding Crowd" (1874), "The Return of the Native" (1878), and "The Mayor of Casterbridge" (1886). In 1885, the Hardys moved from Dorset to the London literary scene, but they returned to Dorset in 1895, where Hardy wrote some of his most famous novels, including "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (1891) and "Jude the Obscure" (1895).
Hardy is considered an English author of the naturalist movement, although he also displayed elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature. He primarily regarded himself as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain. His poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels. Hardy's writing often depicted characters struggling against their passions and circumstances, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex. The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with Hardy's serial novel "A Pair of Blue Eyes" in 1873, where he left one of his protagonists literally hanging off a cliff.
Thomas Hardy died in 1928 at the age of 87, after becoming ill with pleurisy in late 1927. He had written both novels and poetry and had become one of the most respected authors of his time. Hardy's work continues to be celebrated and studied, and his contributions to English literature remain significant.