“It was then that the ecstasy and the dream began, in which emotion was the matter of the universe, and matter but an adventitious intrusion likely to hinder you from spinning where you wanted to spin.”

English novelist, poet and architect

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist, poet and architect. A Victorian realist, he wrote about the tensions of his time and looked closely at social change, especially in rural Britain. He is known for novels and poetry shaped by both realism and Romanticism, including the influence of William Wordsworth. His work is often sharply critical of Victorian society, and it pays close attention to the changing position of rural people in Britain, especially in his native South West England.