Dionysus leading the Horae (Neo-Attic Roman relief, 1st century).

In Greek mythology the Horae ( /ˈhɔːriː/ or /ˈhɔːraɪ/) or Hours (Greek: Ὧραι, Hōrai, pronounced [hɔ̂ːraj], "seasons") were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time.^[1] They were originally the personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, but in later times they were regarded as goddessess of order in general and natural justice. "They bring and bestow ripeness, they come and go in accordance with the firm law of the periodicities of nature and of life", Karl Kerenyi observed: "Hora means 'the correct moment'."^[2] Traditionally, they guarded the gates of Olympus, promoted the fertility of the earth, and rallied the stars and constellations.

The course of the seasons was also symbolically described as the dance of the Horae, and they were accordingly given the attributes of spring flowers, fragrance and graceful freshness. For example, in Hesiod's Works and Days, the fair-haired Horai, together with the Charites and Peitho crown Pandora—she of "all gifts"— with garlands of flowers.^[3] Similarly Aphrodite, emerging from the sea and coming ashore at Cyprus, is dressed and adorned by the Horai,^[4] and, according to a surviving fragment of the epic Cypria,^[5] Aphrodite wore clothing made for her by the Charites and Horai, dyed with spring flowers, such as the Horai themselves wear.

The number of Horae varied according to different sources, but was most commonly three, either the trio of Thallo, Auxo and Carpo, who were goddesses of the order of nature; or Eunomia, Diké, and Eirene, who were law-and-order goddesses.

Descriptions[link]

The earliest written mention of horai is in the Iliad where they appear as keepers of Zeus's cloud gates.^[6] "Hardly any traces of that function are found in the subsequent tradition," Karl Galinsky remarked in passing.^[7] They were daughters of Zeus and Themis, half-sisters to the Moirai.^[8]

The Horae are mentioned in two aspects in Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns. In one variant emphasizing their fruitful aspect, Thallo, Auxo, and Carpo—the goddesses of the three seasons the Greeks recognized: spring, summer and autumn—were worshipped primarily amongst rural farmers throughout Greece. In the other variant, emphasising the "right order" aspect of the Horai, Hesiod says that Zeus wedded "bright Themis" who bore Eunomia, Diké, and Eirene, who were law-and-order goddesses that maintained the stability of society. They were worshipped primarily in the cities of Athens, Argos and Olympia.

Of the first, more familiar triad, associated with Aphrodite is their origins as emblems of times of life and growth, Thallo (Θαλλώ, literally "the one who brings blossoms") or Thalatte was the goddess of spring, buds and blooms, a protector of youth. Auxo (Αὐξώ. "increaser" as in plant growth) or Auxesia was worshipped alongside Hegemone in Athens as one of their two Charites. Carpo (Καρπώ), Carpho or Xarpo was the one who brings food - though Robert Graves in The Greek Myths (1955) translates this name as "withering") was in charge of autumn, ripening, and harvesting, as well as guarding the way to Mount Olympus and letting back the clouds surrounding the mountain if one of the gods left. She was an attendant to Persephone, Aphrodite and Hera, and was also associated with Dionysus, Apollo and Pan. Thallo and Carpo appear in rites of Attica noted by Pausanias in the 2nd century AD.^[9]

Of the second triad Dike (Δίκη, "justice") was the goddess of moral justice. She ruled over human justice, as her mother Themis ruled over divine justice. The anthropomorphisation of Dike as an ever-young woman dwelling in the cities of men was so ancient and strong that in the 3rd century BCE Aratus in Phaenomena 96 asserted that she was born a mortal and that, though Zeus placed her on earth to keep mankind just, he quickly learned this was impossible and placed her next to him on Olympus, as the Greek astronomical/astrological constellation The Maiden.

Eunomia (Εὐνομία, "good order, governance according to good laws") was the goddess of law and legislation. The same or a different goddess may have been a daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite. Eirene or Irene (Εἰρήνη. "peace"; the Roman equivalent was Pax), was the personification of peace and wealth, and was depicted in art as a beautiful young woman carrying a cornucopia, scepter and a torch or rhyton.

Argive Horae[link]

Eirene with the infant Ploutos (Roman copy after the votive statue of Kephisodotos, ca. 370 BC.

In Argos two, rather than three Horae were recognised, presumably summer and winter: Damia (possibly another name for Carpo) and Auxesia. In late euhemerist interpretations, they were seen as Cretan maidens who were worshipped as goddesses after they had been wrongfully stoned to death.

Later Horae[link]

Hyginus (Fabulae 183) identifies a third set of Horae: Pherousa (goddess of substance and farm estates), Euporie or Euporia (goddess of abundance), and Orthosie (goddess of prosperity).

Nonnus in his Dionysiaca mentions a set of four Horae: Eiar, Theros, Cheimon and Phthinoporon, the Greek words for spring, summer, winter and autumn respectively.

The Hours[link]

Finally, a quite separate suite of Horae personified the twelve hours (originally only ten), as tutelary goddesses of the times of day. The hours run from just before sunrise to just after sunset, thus winter hours are short, summer hours are long:

• Auge, first light
• Anatole or Anatolia, sunrise
• Mousika or Musica, the morning hour of music and study
• Gymnastika, Gymnastica or Gymnasia, the morning hour of gymnastics/exercise
• Nymph, the morning hour of ablutions (bathing, washing)
• Mesembria, noon
• Sponde, libations poured after lunch
• Elete, prayer, the first of the afternoon work hours
• Akte, Acte or Cypris, eating and pleasure, the second of the afternoon work hours
• Hesperis, evening
• Dysis, sunset
• Arktos, night sky, constellation

According to Hyginus, the list is only of nine: Auco, Eunomia (Order), Pherusa, Carpo (Fruit), Dike (Justice), Euporie or Euporia, Irene (Peace), Orthosie and Thallo.^[10]

See also[link]

• List of Greek mythological figures
• hora (astrology)

Modern references[link]

The Horai are mentioned by:

• Heinrich Heine
• Alfred Tennyson
• R.E.M., in the song "Moral Kiosk" from the album Murmur

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. "Horae" p. 217
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Horae"

External links[link]

• Theoi Project: Horai
• Theoi Project: Twelve Horae

Media related to Horae at Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Hardy
Born	(1840-06-02)2 June 1840 Stinsford, Dorchester, Dorset, England
Died	11 January 1928(1928-01-11) (aged 87) Dorchester, Dorset, England
Resting place	Stinsford parish church (heart) Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey (ashes)
Occupation	Novelist, Poet, and Short Story writer
Alma mater	King's College London
Literary movement	Naturalism, Victorian literature
Notable work(s)	Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, Collected Poems
Spouse(s)	Emma Lavinia Gifford (1874–1912) Florence Dugdale (1914–28)
Influences Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, George Meredith, Thomas Gray
Influenced Philip Larkin, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Frost, W.H. Auden, W.D. Snodgrass
Signature

Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. While he regarded himself primarily as a poet who composed novels mainly for financial gain, he became and continues to be widely regarded for his novels, such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd. The bulk of his fictional works, initially published as serials in magazines, were set in the semi-fictional county of Wessex (based on the Dorchester region where he grew up) and explored tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances.

Hardy's poetry, first published in his fifties, has come to be as well regarded as his novels and has had a significant influence over modern English poetry, especially after The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s cited Hardy as a major figure.

Life[link]

Thomas Hardy was born in Upper Bockhampton, a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England in 1840. His father Thomas (d.1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder. His mother Jemima (d.1904) was well-read. She educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at age eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last's Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester. Here he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential.^[1] However, a family of Hardy's social position lacked the means for a university education, and his formal education ended at the age of sixteen when he became apprenticed to James Hicks, a local architect.^[2] Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862; there he enrolled as a student at King's College, London. He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. Hardy was in charge of the excavation of the graveyard of St Pancras Old Church prior to its destruction when the Midland Railway was extended a new terminus at St Pancras.^[3]

Hardy never felt at home in London. He was acutely conscious of class divisions and his social inferiority. However, he was interested in social reform and was familiar with the works of John Stuart Mill. He was also introduced to the works of Charles Fourier and Auguste Comte during this period by his Dorset friend, Horace Moule. Five years later, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset and decided to dedicate himself to writing.

Florence Hardy at the seashore, 1915

In 1870, while on an architectural mission to restore the parish church of St Juliot in Cornwall,^[4] Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Lavinia Gifford, whom he married in 1874.^[5][6] Although they later became estranged, her death in 1912 had a traumatic effect on him. After her death, Hardy made a trip to Cornwall to revisit places linked with their courtship, and his Poems 1912–13 reflect upon her death. In 1914, Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale, who was 39 years his junior. However, he remained preoccupied with his first wife's death and tried to overcome his remorse by writing poetry.^[7]

Hardy became ill with pleurisy in December 1927 and died at Max Gate just after 9 pm on 11 January 1928, having dictated his final poem to his wife on his deathbed; the cause of death was cited, on his death certificate, as "cardiac syncope", with "old age" given as a contributory factor. His funeral was on 16 January at Westminster Abbey, and it proved a controversial occasion because Hardy and his family and friends had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. However, his executor, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, insisted that he be placed in the abbey's famous Poets' Corner. A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in Poets' Corner.

Shortly after Hardy's death, the executors of his estate burnt his letters and notebooks. Twelve records survived, one of them containing notes and extracts of newspaper stories from the 1820s. Research into these provided insight into how Hardy kept track of them and how he used them in his later work.^[8] In the year of his death Mrs Hardy published The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1841–1891: compiled largely from contemporary notes, letters, diaries, and biographical memoranda, as well as from oral information in conversations extending over many years.

Hardy's work was admired by many writers of a younger generation including D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. In his autobiography Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves recalls meeting Hardy in Dorset in the early 1920s. Hardy received him and his new wife warmly, and was encouraging about his work.

In 1910, Hardy was awarded the Order of Merit.

Hardy's cottage at Bockhampton and Max Gate in Dorchester are owned by the National Trust.

Novels[link]

Hardy's first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, finished by 1867, failed to find a publisher and Hardy destroyed the manuscript so only parts of the novel remain. He was encouraged to try again by his mentor and friend, Victorian poet and novelist George Meredith. Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) were published anonymously. In 1873 A Pair of Blue Eyes, a novel drawing on Hardy's courtship of his first wife, was not published under his own name. The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the serialised version of this story (which was published in Tinsley's Magazine between September 1872 and July 1873) in which Henry Knight, one of the protagonists, is left literally hanging off a cliff.

Hardy said that he first introduced Wessex in Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), his next novel. It was successful enough for Hardy to give up architectural work and pursue a literary career. Over the next twenty-five years Hardy produced ten more novels.

The Hardys moved from London to Yeovil and then to Sturminster Newton, where he wrote The Return of the Native (1878). In 1885, they moved for the last time, to Max Gate, a house outside Dorchester designed by Hardy and built by his brother. There he wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887), and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), the last of which attracted criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen woman" and was initially refused publication. Its subtitle, A Pure Woman: Faithfully Presented, was intended to raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle-classes.

Jude the Obscure, published in 1895, met with even stronger negative outcries from the Victorian public for its frank treatment of sex, and was often referred to as "Jude the Obscene". Heavily criticised for its apparent attack on the institution of marriage through the presentation of such concepts as erotolepsy, the book caused further strain on Hardy's already difficult marriage because Emma Hardy was concerned that Jude the Obscure would be read as autobiographical. Some booksellers sold the novel in brown paper bags, and the Bishop of Wakefield is reputed to have burnt his copy.^[8] In his postscript of 1912, Hardy humorously referred to this incident as part of the career of the book: "After these [hostile] verdicts from the press its next misfortune was to be burnt by a bishop – probably in his despair at not being able to burn me".^[9]

Hardy painted by William Strang, 1893

Despite this criticism, Hardy had become a celebrity in English literature by the 1900s, with several highly successful novels behind him. Even so, he felt disgust at the public reception of two of his greatest works and gave up writing fiction altogether. Other novels written by Hardy include Two on a Tower, a romance story set in the world of astronomy. With some notable exceptions - for example the 1979 Roman Polanski film Tess, an adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles - and unlike the novels of Charles Dickens and George Eliot, Hardy's novels do not beg to be filmed or to be adapted for the stage. Some scholars have suggested that this is due to the absence of a flair in Hardy for the overtly dramatic.^{[citation needed]}

Literary themes[link]

Hardy criticises certain social constraints that hindered the lives of those living in the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the social constraints that are part of the Victorian status quo, suggesting these rules hinder the lives of all involved and ultimately lead to unhappiness. In Two on a Tower, Hardy seeks to take a stand against these rules and sets up a story against the backdrop of social structure by creating a story of love that crosses the boundaries of class. The reader is forced to consider disposing of the conventions set up for love. Nineteenth-century society enforces these conventions, and societal pressure ensures conformity. Swithin St Cleeve's idealism pits him against contemporary social constraints. He is a self-willed individual set up against the coercive strictures of social rules and mores.

Hardy’s characters often encounter crossroads, which are symbolic of a point of opportunity and transition. But the hand of fate is an important part of many of Hardy's plots. Far From the Madding Crowd tells a tale of lives that are constructed by chance. “Had Bathsheba not sent the valentine, had Fanny not missed her wedding, for example, the story would have taken an entirely different path.”^[10] Hardy's main characters often seem to be in the overwhelming and overpowering grip of fate.

Poetry[link]

Thomas Hardy by Walter William Ouless, 1922

For the full text of several poems, see the External links section

In 1898 Hardy published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, a collection of poems written over 30 years. Hardy claimed poetry as his first love, and after a great amount of negative criticism erupted from the publication of his novel Jude The Obscure, Hardy decided to give up writing novels permanently and to focus his literary efforts on writing poetry. After giving up the novel form, Hardy continued to publish poetry collections until his death in 1928. Although he did publish one last novel in 1897, that novel, The Well-Beloved, had actually been written prior to Jude the Obscure.

Although his poems were not initially as well received by his contemporaries as his novels were, Hardy is now recognised as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His verse had a profound influence on later writers, notably Philip Larkin, who included many of Hardy's poems in the edition of the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse that Larkin edited in 1973.

In a recent biography on Hardy, Claire Tomalin argues that Hardy became a truly great English poet after the death of his first wife, Emma, beginning with the elegies he wrote in her memory, calling these poems, "one of the finest and strangest celebrations of the dead in English poetry."^[11]

Most of Hardy's poems, such as "Neutral Tones'" and "A Broken Appointment", deal with themes of disappointment in love and life (which were also prominent themes in his novels), and mankind's long struggle against indifference to human suffering. Using stylistic patterns similar to those that he used in his novels, Hardy sometimes wrote ironic poems, like "Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave," in which he employed twist endings in the last few lines or in the last stanza to convey that irony. Some, like "The Darkling Thrush" and "An August Midnight", appear as poems about writing poetry, because the nature mentioned in them gives Hardy the inspiration to write. His compositions range in style from the three-volume epic closet drama The Dynasts to shorter poems such as "A Broken Appointment." A particularly strong theme in the Wessex Poems is the long shadow that the Napoleonic Wars cast over the nineteenth century, for example, in "The Sergeant's Song" and "Leipzig".

A few of Hardy's poems, such as "The Blinded Bird" (a melancholy polemic against the sport of vinkenzetting), display his love of the natural world and his firm stance against animal cruelty, exhibited in his antivivisectionist views and his membership in the RSPCA.^[12]

A number of notable composers, including Gerald Finzi, Benjamin Britten, and Gustav Holst, have set poems by Hardy to music.

Religious beliefs[link]

Hardy's family was Anglican, but not especially devout. He was baptised at the age of five weeks and attended church, where his father and uncle contributed to music. However, he did not attend the local Church of England school, instead being sent to Mr Last's school, three miles away. As a young adult, he befriended Henry R. Bastow (a Plymouth Brethren man), who also worked as a pupil architect, and who was preparing for adult baptism in the Baptist Church. Hardy flirted with conversion, but decided against it.^[13] Bastow went to Australia and maintained a long correspondence with Hardy, but eventually Hardy tired of these exchanges and the correspondence ceased. This concluded Hardy's links with the Baptists.

Although Hardy’s faith remained intact, the irony and struggles of life led him to question the traditional Christian view of God:

Hardy's religious life seems to have mixed agnosticism, deism, and spiritism. Once, when asked in correspondence by a clergyman about the question of reconciling the horrors of pain with the goodness of a loving God, Hardy replied,

Nevertheless, Hardy frequently conceived of and wrote about supernatural forces that control the universe, more through indifference or caprice than any firm will. Also, Hardy showed in his writing some degree of fascination with ghosts and spirits.^[15] Despite these sentiments, Hardy retained a strong emotional attachment to the Christian liturgy and church rituals, particularly as manifested in rural communities, that had been such a formative influence in his early years, and Biblical references can be found woven throughout many of Hardy's novels.

Hardy's friends during his apprenticeship to John Hicks included Horace Moule (one of the eight sons of Henry Moule), and the poet William Barnes, both ministers of religion. Moule remained a close friend of Hardy's for the rest of his life, and introduced him to new scientific findings that cast doubt on literal interpretations of the Bible,^[16] such as those of Gideon Mantell. Moule gave Hardy a copy of Mantell's book The Wonders of Geology (1848) in 1858, and Adelene Buckland has suggested that there are "compelling similarities" between the "cliffhanger" section from A Pair of Blue Eyes and Mantell's geological descriptions. It has also been suggested that the character of Henry Knight in A Pair of Blue Eyes was based on Horace Moule.^[17]

Locations in novels[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

This section may stray from the topic of the article into the topic of another article, Thomas Hardy's Wessex. Please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (August 2010)

Berkshire is North Wessex, Devon is Lower Wessex, Dorset is South Wessex, Somerset is Outer or Nether Wessex, Wiltshire is Mid-Wessex,

Bere Regis is King's-Bere of Tess, Bincombe Down cross roads is the scene of the military execution in A Melancholy Hussar. It is a true story, the deserters from the German Legion were shot in 1801 and are recorded in the parish register. Bindon Abbey is where Clare carried her. Bournemouth is Sandbourne of Hand of Ethelberta and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Bridport is Port Bredy, Charborough House and its folly tower is the model for Welland House in the novel Two on a Tower. Corfe Castle is the Corvsgate-Castle of Hand of Ethelberta. Cranborne Chase is The Chase scene of Tess's seduction. (Note – Bowerchalke on Cranborne Chase was the film location for the great fire in John Schlesinger's 1967 film Far from the Madding Crowd.) Milborne St Andrew is "Millpond St Judes" in Far From the Madding Crowd. Charborough House is located between Sturminster Marshall and Bere Regis. Charborough House and its folly tower is the model for Welland House in the novel Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy.^[18] Little England Cottage, Milborne St Andrew being the location of Swithin St Cleeves home and remains as described to this day. Dorchester, Dorset is Casterbridge, the scene of Mayor of Casterbridge. Dunster Castle in Somerset is Castle De Stancy of A Laodicean. Fordington moor is Durnover moor and fields. Greenhill Fair near Bere Regis is Woodbury Hill Fair, Lulworth Cove is Lulstead Cove, Marnhull is Marlott of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Melbury House near Evershot is Great Hintock Court in A Group of Noble Dames. Minterne is Little Hintock, Owermoigne is Nether Moynton in Wessex Tales.

Piddlehinton and Piddle Trenthide are the Longpuddle of A Few Crusted Characters. Puddletown Heath, Moreton Heath, Tincleton Heath and Bere Heath are Egdon Heath. Poole is Havenpool in Life's Little Ironies. Portland is the scene of The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved. Puddletown is Weatherbury in Far from the Madding Crowd, River Frome valley is the scene of Talbothays dairy in Tess. Salisbury is Melchester in On the Western Circuit, Life's Little Ironies and Jude the Obscure etc. Shaftesbury is Shaston in Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Sherborne is Sherton-Abbas, Sherborne Castle is home of Lady Baxby in A Group of Noble Dames. Stonehenge is the scene of Tess's apprehension. Sutton Poyntz is Overcombe. Swanage is the Knollsea of Hand of Ethelberta. Taunton is known as Toneborough in both Hardy's novels and poems. Wantage is Alfredston, of Jude the Obscure. Fawley, Berkshire is Marygreen of Jude the Obscure. Weyhill is Weydon Priors, Weymouth is Budmouth Regis, the scene of Trumpet Major & portions of other novels; Winchester is Wintoncester where Tess was executed. Wimborne is Warborne of Two on a Tower. Wolfeton House, near Dorchester is the scene of The Lady Penelope in a Group of Noble Dames. Woolbridge Manor House, close to Wool station, is the scene of Tess's confession and honeymoon.

Influence[link]

Hardy provides the springboard for D. H. Lawrence's Study of Thomas Hardy (1936). Though this work became a platform for Lawrence's own developing philosophy rather than a more standard literary study, the influence of Hardy's treatment of character and Lawrence's own response to the central metaphysic behind many of Hardy's novels helped significantly in the development of The Rainbow (1915, suppressed) and Women in Love (1920, private publication). Hardy was clearly the starting point for the character of the novelist Edward Driffield in W Somerset Maugham's novel Cakes and Ale. Thomas Hardy's works feature prominently in the narrative in Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo, in which a graduate thesis analysing Tess of the d'Urbervilles is interspersed with analysis of Matt's family's neuroses.

Works[link]

Prose[link]

Hardy divided his novels and collected short stories into three classes:

Novels of Character and Environment

• The Poor Man and the Lady (1867, unpublished and lost)
• Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)
• Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
• The Return of the Native (1878)
• The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
• The Woodlanders (1887)
• Wessex Tales (1888, a collection of short stories)
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)
• Life's Little Ironies (1894, a collection of short stories)
• Jude the Obscure (1895)

Romances and Fantasies

• A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)
• The Trumpet-Major (1880)
• Two on a Tower (1882)
• A Group of Noble Dames (1891, a collection of short stories)
• The Well-Beloved (1897) (first published as a serial from 1892)

Novels of Ingenuity

• Desperate Remedies (1871)
• The Hand of Ethelberta (1876)
• A Laodicean (1881)

Hardy also produced a number of minor tales and a collaborative novel, The Spectre of the Real (1894). An additional short-story collection, beyond the ones mentioned above, is A Changed Man and Other Tales (1913). His works have been collected as the 24-volume Wessex Edition (1912–13) and the 37-volume Mellstock Edition (1919–20). His largely self-written biography appears under his second wife's name in two volumes from 1928–30, as The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1840–91 and The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, 1892–1928, now published in a critical one-volume edition as The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy, edited by Michael Millgate (1984).

Short stories (with date of first publication)

Poetry collections[link]

• The Photograph (1890)
• Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898)
• Poems of the Past and the Present (1901)
• The Man He Killed (1902)
• Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses (1909)
• The Voice (1912)
• Satires of Circumstance (1914)
• Moments of Vision (1917)
• Collected Poems (1919)
• Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses (1923)
• Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs and Trifles (1925)
• Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres (1928)
• The Complete Poems (Macmillan, 1976)
• Selected Poems (Edited by Harry Thomas, Penguin, 1993)
• Hardy: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets, 1995)
• Thomas Hardy: Selected Poetry and Nonfictional Prose (St. Martin's Press, 1996)
• Selected Poems (Edited by Robert Mezey, Penguin, 1998)
• Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems (Edited by James Gibson, Palgrave, 2001)

Drama[link]

• The Dynasts (verse drama)
  • The Dynasts, Part 1 (1904)
  • The Dynasts, Part 2 (1906)
  • The Dynasts, Part 3 (1908)
• The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse (1923) (one-act play)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Armstrong, Tim. "Player Piano: Poetry and Sonic Modernity" in Modernism/Modernity 14.1 (January 2007), 1–19.
• Blunden, Edmund. Thomas Hardy. New York: St. Martin's, 1942.
• Brennecke, Jr., Ernest. The Life of Thomas Hardy. New York: Greenberg, 1925.
• D'Agnillo, Renzo, "Music and Metaphor in Under the Greenwood Tree, in The Thomas Hardy Journal, 9, 2 (May 1993), pp.39–50.
• D'Agnillo, Renzo, “Between Belief and Non-Belief: Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Shadow on the Stone’”, in Thomas Hardy, Francesco Marroni and Norman Page (eds), Pescara, Edizioni Tracce, 1995, pp.197–222.
• Deacon, Lois and Terry Coleman. Providence and Mr. Hardy. London: Hutchinson, 1966.
• Draper, Jo. Thomas Hardy: A Life in Pictures. Wimborne, Dorset: The Dovecote Press.
• Ellman, Richard & O'Clair, Robert (eds.) 1988. "Thomas Hardy" in The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, Norton, New York.
• Gatrell, Simon. Hardy the Creator: A Textual Biography. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.
• Gibson, James. Thomas Hardy: A Literary Life. London: Macmillan, 1996.
• Gittings, Robert. Thomas Hardy's Later Years. Boston : Little, Brown, 1978.
• Gittings, Robert. Young Thomas Hardy. Boston : Little, Brown, 1975.
• Gittings, Robert and Jo Manton. The Second Mrs Hardy. London: Heinemann, 1979.
• Gossin, P. Thomas Hardy's Novel Universe: Astronomy, Cosmology, and Gender in the Post-Darwinian World. Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007 (The Nineteenth Century Series).
• Halliday, F. E. Thomas Hardy: His Life and Work. Bath: Adams & Dart, 1972.
• Hands, Timothy. Thomas Hardy : Distracted Preacher? : Hardy's religious biography and its influence on his novels. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
• Hardy, Evelyn. Thomas Hardy: A Critical Biography. London: Hogarth Press, 1954.
• Hardy, Florence Emily. The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1840–1891. London: Macmillan, 1928.
• Hardy, Florence Emily. The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, 1892–1928 London: Macmillan, 1930.
• Harvey, Geoffrey. Thomas Hardy: The Complete Critical Guide to Thomas Hardy. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), 2003.
• Hedgcock, F. A., Thomas Hardy: penseur et artiste. Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1911.
• Holland, Clive. Thomas Hardy O.M.: The Man, His Works and the Land of Wessex. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1933.
• Jedrzejewski, Jan. Thomas Hardy and the Church. London: Macmillan, 1996.
• Johnson, Lionel Pigot. The art of Thomas Hardy (London: E. Mathews, 1894).
• Kay-Robinson, Denys. The First Mrs Thomas Hardy. London: Macmillan, 1979.
• Langbaum, Robert. "Thomas Hardy in Our Time." New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995, London: Macmillan, 1997.
• Marroni, Francesco, "The Negation of Eros in 'Barbara of the House of Grebe’ ", in "Thomas Hardy Journal", 10, 1 (February 1994) pp. 33–41
• Marroni, Francesco and Norman Page (eds.), Thomas Hardy. Pescara: Edizioni Tracce, 1995.
• Marroni, Francesco, La poesia di Thomas Hardy. Bari: Adriatica Editrice, 1997.
• Marroni, Francesco, "The Poetry of Ornithology in Keats, Leopardi, and Hardy: A Dialogic Analysis", in "Thomas Hardy Journal", 14, 2 (May 1998) pp. 35–44
• Millgate, Michael (ed.). The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy. London: Macmillan, 1984.
• Millgate, Michael. Thomas Hardy: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1982.
• Millgate, Michael. Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Morgan, Rosemarie, (ed) The Ashgate Research Companion to Thomas Hardy, (Ashgate publishing), 2010.
• Morgan, Rosemarie, (ed) The Hardy Review,(Maney Publishing), 1999–.
• Morgan, Rosemarie, Student Companion to Thomas Hardy (Greenwood Press),2006.
• Morgan, Rosemarie, Cancelled Words: Rediscovering Thomas Hardy (Routledge, Chapman & Hall),1992
• Morgan, Rosemarie, Women and Sexuality in the Novels of Thomas Hardy (Routledge & Kegan Paul), 1988;paperback: 1990.
• David Musselwhite,Social Transformations in Hardy's Tragic Novels: Megamachines and Phantasms,Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
• O'Sullivan, Timothy. Thomas Hardy: An Illustrated Biography. London: Macmillan, 1975.
• Orel, Harold. The Final Years of Thomas Hardy, 1912–1928. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1976.
• Orel, Harold. The Unknown Thomas Hardy. New York: St. Martin's, 1987.
• Phelps, Kenneth. The Wormwood Cup: Thomas Hardy in Cornwall. Padstow: Lodenek Press, 1975.
• Pinion, F. B. Thomas Hardy: His Life and Friends. London: Palgrave, 1992.
• Pite, Ralph. Thomas Hardy: The Guarded Life. London: Picador, 2006.
• Saxelby, F. Outwin. A Thomas Hardy dictionary : the characters and scenes of the novels and poems alphabetically arranged and described (London: G. Routledge, 1911).
• Seymour-Smith, Martin. Hardy. London: Bloomsbury, 1994.
• Stevens-Cox, J. Thomas Hardy: Materials for a Study of his Life, Times, and Works. St. Peter Port, Guernsey: Toucan Press, 1968.
• Stevens-Cox, J. Thomas Hardy: More Materials for a Study of his Life, Times, and Works. St. Peter Port, Guernsey: Toucan Press, 1971.
• Stewart, J. I. M. Thomas Hardy: A Critical Biography. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1971.
• Turner, Paul. The Life of Thomas Hardy: A Critical Biography. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
• Weber, Carl J. Hardy of Wessex, his Life and Literary Career. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940.
• Wilson, Keith. Thomas Hardy on Stage. London: Macmillan, 1995.
• Wilson, Keith, ed. Thomas Hardy Reappraised: Essays in Honour of Michael Millgate. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.
• Wilson, Keith, ed. A Companion to Thomas Hardy. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
• Wotton, George. Thomas Hardy: Towards A Materialist Criticism. Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield, 1985.
• Letter from Hardy to Bertram Windle, transcribed by Birgit Plietzsch, from CL, vol 2, pp.131–133 The letter is contained in the maps section of the TTHA website.

External links[link]

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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Thomas Hardy

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• The Thomas Hardy Association (TTHA)
• Works by or about Thomas Hardy in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Works by Thomas Hardy at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Thomas Hardy at Internet Archive
• Works by Thomas Hardy in audio format from LibriVox
• Poems by Thomas Hardy at Poetry Foundation
• Poems by Thomas Hardy at PoemHunter.com
• A Hyper-Concordance to the Works of Thomas Hardy at the Victorian Literary Studies Archive, Nagoya University, Japan
• "The Dead Man Walking" (1909) and other Hardy poems at poetry-archive.com
• Thomas Hardy's Wessex Research site, including maps, by Dr Birgit Plietzsch
• Works by Thomas Hardy in e-book version
• Thomas Hardy's ashes at Westminster Abbey
• Pictures of Thomas Hardy visiting Marie Stopes at her lighthouse home on Portland, Dorset
• The Thomas Hardy Society
• The Life and Death of Thomas Hardy @ Ward's Book of Days
• Hardy Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin

v t e Works by Thomas Hardy Novels The Poor Man and the Lady (1867) Desperate Remedies (1871) Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) The Hand of Ethelberta (1876) The Return of the Native (1878) The Trumpet-Major (1880) A Laodicean (1881) Two on a Tower (1882) The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) The Woodlanders (1887) Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) Jude the Obscure (1895) The Well-Beloved (1897) Short story collections Wessex Tales (1888) A Group of Noble Dames (1891) Life's Little Ironies (1894) A Changed Man and Other Tales (1913) Individual stories "The Three Strangers" (1883) "A Mere Interlude" (1885) "Alicia's Diary" (1887) "Barbara of the House of Grebe" (1891) "A Tragedy of Two Ambitions" (1894) Poetry collections Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898) Poems of the Past and the Present (1901) Time's Laughingstocks (1909) Poems 1912–13 Satires of Circumstance (1914) Moments of Vision (1917) Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses (1922) Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs and Trifles (1925) Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres (1928) Individual poems "The Photograph" (1890) "Neutral Tones" (1898) "The Darkling Thrush" (1901) "The Ruined Maid" (1901) "The Respectable Burgher" (1901) "The Man He Killed" (1902) "A Trampwoman's Tragedy" (1903) "The Convergence of the Twain" (1915) "The Blinded Bird" (1916) Plays The Dynasts (1904–1908)

Vladimír Hirsch
Vladimír Hirsch
Background information
Birth name	Vladimír Otakar Hirsch
Born	(1954-07-03)July 3, 1954 Benešov, Czechoslovakia
Origin	Czech
Genres	dark ambient, contemporary classical, industrial, electronic, electroacoustic
Occupations	Composer, instrumentalist, songwriter
Instruments	pianist, organist, keyboard player, vocalist
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Ars Benevola Mater
Associated acts	Skrol, Aghiatrias
Website	www.vladimirhirsch.com

Vladimír Hirsch (born July 3, 1954 in Benešov, former Czechoslovakia, today Czechia) is a Czech avantgarde composer, integrating industrial and dark ambient music with modern classical composition. His compositional style is characterized by polymodal architectonics and using digital technique to enhance sonic means of expression.^[1] Besides creating solo works, he is the founding member and leader of Skrol, Aghiatrias and various other projects (e.g. Zygote, Luminar Ax and Tiria).^[2] The music is marked by a dark, tense and tempestuous atmosphere.

Biography and style[link]

Vladimír Hirsch has been composing since he was a teenager, when as a pianist and organ player, he started to write romantic and classicist pieces with elements of experimental rock. However, he abandoned these compositions for some time and delved into experimental jazz and rock music up until 1986, when he joined the post-punk band Der Marabu. Simultaneously he also started to apply modern classical forms to electronic and analog music resulting in a more transgressive industrial style in his solo works. During this time, Der Marabu also changed their direction to a darker and more aggressive style with some Slavic classical music undertones. After many personal changes the band finished its activity in 1996, when Hirsch established the band Skrol. Its creative principle was based on modern classical concepts with a congregation of martial industrial. Severe militant rhythms along with obstinate instrumental loops as a counterpoint to the melodic calmness are typical features of that period of Hirsch's style. Throughout their existence, Skrol recorded 5 albums, that were released between 1998 and 2009, though their public appearance was interrupted from 2002 to 2011. With a similar but more abstract sprouting of this integrated style, aiming more towards dark ambient, is Hirsch's project, Aghiatrias, founded in 1999. Aghiatrias were active from 1999 until 2007 and for that period recorded 4 albums, in which they were moving from a sombre ambient industrial character to power electronics, with an infiltration of modern classical composition and digitally manipulated instrumentation.

Vladimír Hirsch's solo work was never interrupted during his conjoint projects. He has been continuously composing an extensive collection of music, foremost a number of conceptual or thematic albums, including symphonies, suites, concert opuses, soundtracks, and many experimental compositions for his favourite instruments, organ and piano. He was influenced by various compositional techniques of the second half of 20th century, incl. serial, atonal, microtonal, polymodal, spectral and others, however his style has emerged into what Hirsch delineates “integrated music”, characterized by an effort to break the borders between primarily musical and unmusical elements in composition and instrumentation, attempting to both equalize and enhance their expressive properties using technological manipulation. This act can be in total described as an alchemical transmutation of modern classical forms with dark ambient, industrial and noise components into a homogenous indivisible structure. It also represents metaphysically the central idea of Vladimír Hirsch's concept, which consists in the collision and reconciliation of two seemingly spiritually opposite worlds inside an individual.

Vladimir Hirsch performs regularly in his native country and abroad. He has had a successful USA tour in 2001 and appeared in many European festivals.

Most important works[link]

The music crosses over from experimental manipulations to unambiguous strictness in composition which are marked by a dark and highly evocative atmosphere enriched by conceptual themes ranging from metaphysics, anxiety to spirituality. To his best works belong Symphony No.4 - Descent From The Cross^[3] and its revisited version Graue Passion,^[4] a conceptual electronic-ambient industrial album Underlying Scapes, the extensive dark ambient-neoclassical compositions Contemplatio Per Nexus, power electronics-neoclassical Mass Cryptosynaxis, electroacoustic composition Endoanathymia or as fully conceptual albums adapted soundtracks Tobruk^[5] and contemporary classical Markéta, the daughter of Lazar. All of them represent deeply immersive perception and expression of ubiquitous inner dialogue, but predominantly, the fight against the anthropocentric and materialistic likeness of contemporary society. This theme undeniably intermingles the majority of the composer's works. In 2010, all the main works until that time were released as 8-CD box set collection The Assent To Paradoxon^[6] by Italian label Ars Benevola Mater.

• Synthetics - Themes, op. 17, experimental electronic work, 1987
• Symphony no. 1 in E, Op. 20; symphony for synthesizers. 1988-1989
• The Ambits Of Material World; experimental organ composition, 1990
• 7 Parts Of Desolation, op. 29; piano cycle, 1989–1991
• Aion, op. 33; composition for organ, water harp and ambient recordings, 1992
• Intermezza, op. 36; compositions for piano and vocal, 1994
• Simplicity Of Heresy (Heretical Antiphony), op. 39; suite for integrated ensemble, 1996
• Insomnia Dei, op. 42; conceptual work for group, 1997
• Symphony no. 2 „Defensa“, op. 47; symphony for synthesizers, 1997
• Concert industriel pour orgue, op. 49; concerto for organ, percussions and integrated ensemble, 1997-8
• Casual Crime, op. 51; new arrangements of jazz compositions 1977-1998
• Symphony no. 3 „Brands Of Tyranny, op. 52; symphony for integrated orchestra, organ, percussions and vocal, 1998-9
• Sense Geometry, op. 54; experimental electronic work, 1998
• Dances & Marches, op. 57; suite for organ, piano and integrated ensemble, 1998-2005
• Exorcisms, op. 61; suite for integrated ensemble, 1999-2000
• Nenia, op. 62; experimental organ composition, 1999-2008
• New Laws / New Orders, op. 63; conceptual work for group, 2000
• Missa armata / Cryptosynaxis, op. 64; mass for integrated ensemble, 1999-2004
• Elegy, op. 65; experimental composition for piano and gas organ, 2000
• Symphony no. 4, “Descent From The Cross”, op. 67; symphony for integrated orchestra, soloists and choir; 2001-2009
• De regionibus liminis (Underlying Scapes), op. 68, ambient-industrial electronic work; 2003-2010
• Endoanathymia, op. 70; conceptual album of experimental electroacoustic compositions, 2003-2004, released 2011
• Trigonal Sonata, op. 71; sonata for two pianos and digital technique, 2004
• Fragments,thèmes et images scéniques', op. 72, adaptation of soundtracks
• Nonterra, op. 73; suite for integrated techniques, 2005
• Ethos, op. 74, thematic work for integrated ensemble, 2004-5
• Les scènes ardentes, op. 75; album of composition for integrated techniques, 2006
• Contemplatio per nexus, op. 77; composition for integrated techniques, 2007-8
• Torment Of Naissance, op. 79, suite for integrated techniques, 2007
• Epidemic Mind, op.81, experimental electronic work, 2008
• Tobruk, op. 82, conceptual work, originally soundtrack, 2008
• Markéta, the daughter of Lazar, op. 85, conceptual work, originally stage play soundtrack, 2009
• Amorpheia, op. 86, electroacoustic composition, 2010
• Horae, op. 89, extensive composition for organ and integrated techniques, 2011

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Synthetics - Themes, MC, D.M.R. 1987, (reedition CDr, CatchArrow Recordings 1999)
• Organ Pieces, MC, D.M.R. 1991, (reedition CDr, CatchArrow Recordings 2001)
• Out Of Your Objects, 1993, digitally released by LBA Records in 2011
• Cruci-Fiction (Der Marabu)”, MC, D,M,R,, 1994, (reedition CDr, CatchArrow Recordings 2000)
• There´s No Human Triumph”, CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 1996
• All Of Us Will Fall Away” (Der Marabu), CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 1996
• Casual Crime, CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 1998
• Martyria (Skrol), 10´´, Loki Foundation (Power & Steel), 1999
• Heretical Antiphony (Skrol), CD, M.D.Propaganda, 1999
• Dreams Of Awakening, CD, CatchArrow Recordings, 1999
• Field Mass, (Aghiatrias) CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 1999
• Geometrie nevědomí (Zygote), CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 2000
• Insomnia Dei (Skrol), CD, RRRecords, 2001
• Epidaemia Vanitatis (Aghiatrias), CD, Integrated Music Records, 2002
• Symphony no.2 & 3, CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 2003
• Regions Of Limen (Aghiatrias), Epidemie Records, 2004
• Fragments, thèmes et images scéniques, CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 2005
• Dances & Marches For The Orphan Age (Skrol), CD, Dagaz Music, 2005
• Sense Geometry, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2006
• Ethos (Aghiatrias), Epidemie Records, 2006
• Torment Of Naissance, CDr, Integrated Music Records, 2007
• Concert industriel pour orgue, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2007
• Epidemic Mind, CDr, Integrated Music Records, 2008
• Symphony No.4 Descent From The Cross, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2008
• Tobruk, CDr, CatchArrow Recordings, 2008
• Exorcisms, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2008
• Nonterra, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2008
• Les scènes ardentes, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2009
• Contemplatio per nexus, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2009
• New Laws, New Orders (Skrol), CD, Twilight Records, 2009
• Graue Passion, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2009
• Underlying Scapes, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2009
• The Assent to Paradoxon, 8 CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2010 (collection of works)
• Cryptosynaxis, CDr, Integrated Music Records 2004; DVD, Integrated Music Records, 2010
• Markéta, the daughter of Lazar, CDr, Integrated Music Records, 2010
• Luminar Ax (Luminar Ax), digital release, LBA Records, 2011
• Endoanathymia, CDr, Integrated Music Records, 2011

Appears on[link]

• Thorak (Ewigkeit ), Skrol, CD, VAWS, 1998
• Ten Years Of Madness - Behind The Iron Curtain (Fall A Prey), Skrol, 2CD, Achtung Baby!, 2000
• A Rainy November Day In Wroclaw (Syncrasia), Aghiatrias, CD, Ars Benevola Mater, 2004
• Glass Anvil II. (Hermeneutic Crc.4), CDr, Zvukovina, 2009
• Why I Remember (Nenia), Hypnotic Dirge Records, 2 CDr, 2009
• Icy Breath On Burning Flesh - Douche Froide Series Vol. I (Exegete #2), CD, Douche Froide, 2010
• Peak the Source Vol.1 [suRRism-Phonoethics sPE_0100] (Soul Eater Codex) Surrism-Phonoethics, digital, 2011
• Wroclaw Industrial Festival - 10th Anniversary Compilation (Dei Irae II), Skrol, 2CD, Bleak 2011
• Saur Maas (Iscariot), digital, Kalpamantra 2011

Other activities[link]

Vladimír Hirsch has also written a good amount of articles and essays about music, musicians^[7] and art,^[8] including many of the lyrics found in his albums and is the graphic designer for the overwhelming majority of his solo albums and conjoint projects. Not interrelated, but interesting from Vladimír Hirsch's biography is the fact, that he graduated in 1980 Faculty of medicine of Charles University in Prague and practiced as a physician until 1999.

Sources[link]

• Official website
• Ars Benevola Mater / Label webpage
• All Music Guide
• Composers database
• Discogs
• Reviews
• MusicBrainz
• Last FM
• Internet Archive

References[link]

See also[link]

• Skrol
• Aghiatrias