The Voice

(2 June 1840-11 January, 1928) was an English novelist and poet. While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of novels, including Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). However, since the 1950s Hardy has been recognised as a major poet and his work was admired by and inspired many writers, including Phillip Larkin, D. H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf.