Thomas Hardy was an English Writer who was born on June 2, 1840 in Higher Brockhampton Doretshire, England (Something About the Author 129). Hardy wrote form personal knowledge and experiences, his characters were real people of the time and settings consisted of places he had been. Many Things influenced Hardy's writings throughout his life including his early life, work experiences and his first wife Emma Gifford
             Thomas Hardy did not begin his education until late in his childhood. He started to go to school at the age of eight years old and continued on through public school for eight more years. Following these eight years of general schooling Thomas went off to London to study at Kings College for five years after which his father, a stonemason, apprenticed him early to a local architect engaged in restoring old churches. The Royal Institute of British Architects awarded him with a medal because of the excellent work he had done as an architect (Dorset May 12, 1999). Thomas inherited his fathers business, but decided to give it to his brother Henry to take care of, which gave him more free time towards his passion of writing. Hardy worked for this architect for five years while at the same time took up poetry writing with little success.
             Thomas started writing many poems after he had completed his apprenticeship, but all were rejected except for one entitled "How I Built Myself A House." This particular piece of literature was initially written for the entertainment of his friends, yet somehow appeared in Chambers Journal in 1865 (Dorset May 12, 1999). After minimal success with poetry Thomas turned to novels as a more reasonable approach to financially supporting himself through writing. By 1874 he had achieved his goal and was now able to maintain a stable life. The novels he wrote were not directly written as books, but in fact they were mostly published in monthly sections through magazines (a...