Showing results by author "Thomas Hardy" in All Categories

Drunk on rum at a country fair, Henchard sells his wife to a sailor for five guineas. Unable to find them and overcome with guilt and remorse he vows to be teetotal for 21 years. Many years later his wife seeks him out in Casterbridge, where he has gained both wealth and the well respected position of mayor.

A collection of Thomas Hardy's finest poetry read by Carleton Hobbs, John Glen, Richard Burton, and Edith Evans.

On a dark and stormy night, three strangers seek shelter at a young girl's christening party. Thomas Hardy was an English poet, novelist, and short story writer. He is famous for his depictions of Wessex, an imaginary county. Many of his stories also reflected his sense of the tragedy in human life.

A vintage collection of some of the greatest short stories ever written

Cuando todos los dedos te señalan, rendirse no es una opción. Tess proviene de una familia de campesinos en el empobrecido Wessex. Un día recibe la noticia de que su apellido pertenece a una estirpe de nobles normandos. Al enterarse, sus padres la presionan para que se introduzca en los círculos aristócratas y obtener beneficio, algo a lo que Tess se niega. Pero el poder de la aristocracia caerá sobre ella con hostilidad y repugnancia y la sociedad no tardará en condenarla por el mero hecho de ser mujer.

The turn of the 20th century saw radical developments in all art forms and particularly in poetry. The first volume of this series features the work of nine significant poets whose careers cover the period from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

Bitter Lips, Sweet Heart is a unique collection of romantic poetry first assembled by a group of young male college students who got together to read poetry and drink tea every week, thinking themselves spurned romantics and talented poets. Most of the original selections have been forgotten, and the collection has been updated for this simple release with a sense of irony and sheepishness in mature adulthood. May its angst, irony, lust, and innocent affection amuse and entertain you today, just as it did the four nerdy boys who assembled it to communicate.

Set in Egdon Heath, a wild tract of country in the southwest of England, this is a masterpiece of dramatic tension. Clym Yeobright, a diamond merchant in Paris, returns to his home in Egdon, where he falls passionately in love with the sensuous, free-spirited Eustacia Vye. She, while in a brief state of infatuation, marries him, hoping he will take her away to a more exciting life in Paris. But Eustacia's dreams of escape are not to be realized.

"The Well-Beloved" is a beautifully crafted novel by Thomas Hardy, exploring the complexities of love and desire. Set in the scenic Isle of Slingers, it tells the story of a sculptor, Jocelyn Pierston, and his obsessive search for his perfect muse, who he calls his "well-beloved". As he searches for this elusive figure, he faces a series of trials and tribulations, each leading him closer to his ultimate desire. This poignant and lyrical tale is a must-read for any lover of classic literature.

This anthology looks back over some of the great love affairs of literary history. It includes readings of poetry, letters and scenes from fiction written by British poets and authors from Shakespearian times to the twentieth century. Here are real-life romantic couples, such as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Fanny Brawne, Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb, Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.

"Tess of the d’Urbervilles" (1891) is a novel by Thomas Hardy. Tess Durbeyfield is the oldest child of John and Joan, uneducated peasants living in an impoverished rural village in Wessex, during the Long Depression of the 1870s. One day, her father is given the hint that they may have noble blood and that they are successors of a noble Norman family D'Urberville. Tess' fortune is changed after one accident and she decides to visit Mrs. D'Urberville, a rich widow who lives in the nearby town, and "claim kin".

Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 near Dorchester in that part of England he called Wessex. With stories sometimes from his own imagination and sometimes from local tradition, Hardy's work, like Dickens and Trollope, creates a strong sense of mood and location. Hardy hoped to be remembered for his poetry, but ours is not a poetic age. Thus his claim to a new generation of readers rests on his prose. There are great similarities between his era, a time of challenge, and our own.

Under the Greenwood Tree, Hardy's second novel, was published in 1872 and became the first of his great series of Wessex novels. The book, subtitled A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, tells the endearing tale of a group of church musicians who accompany the hymns at the local Mellstock parish choir and we follow the fortunes of one of its member, Dick Dewy, who falls in love with the new school mistress, Fancy Day.

A haunting collection of strange and macabre short stories, ideal for listening to around the fire on a cold winter evening.... 'The Last Leaf' by O. Henry, 'On the Northern Ice' by Elia W. Peattie, 'The Fire' by Charles John Cutcliffe Hyne, 'The Tiger' by Hugh Walpole, 'Cool Air' by H. P. Lovecraft, 'The Missing Model' by Lettice Galbraith, 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon, 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole, 'Over an Absinthe Bottle' by W. C. Morrow, 'The Coffin Merchant' by Richard Middleton.

"Wat Ollamoor - if that were his real name... was a woman’s man." Occasionally, his dexterous expertise on the fiddle produced a "...moving effect upon the souls of grown-up persons, especially young women of fragile and responsive organization. Such an one was Car'line Aspent.... Though she was already engaged to be married before she met him, Car’line, of them all, was the most influenced by Mop Ollamoor’s heart-stealing melodies...."

Distinguished actor and six-time Academy Award nominee Richard Burton reads a selection of his favourite poetry. Volume 2 in this dramatic audiobook series includes selections from William Shakespeare, John Donne, and Thomas Hardy....

Evil is unleashed in Scare Street’s latest bone-chilling collection of supernatural horror. Fourteen tales of terror lurk within this new volume - more than enough to give even the bravest soul a reason to fear the night. As your eyes flutter open, you can still see dark images in your mind.... Horrifying monsters, demons, and ghouls with a hunger for human flesh.

Death is a subject that few of us talk about, but many think about and more than a few of us dread. Whether it is the actual end of our life’s journey or merely a transit point to heavenly glory, its actual point of impact is, obviously, life-changing. But what do poets think of it? How do their minds tangle with the subject and make sense of this? That’s what we wondered too. Poets as rich and diverse as Tennyson, Hardy, Shelley, and Poe here share their words, thoughts and visions with us.

Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of an impoverished family, must navigate a world of desire and romance once she meets Alec d'Urberville. The son of a rich widow, he takes a fancy to her and gets her a position as the poultry keeper on his family's estate. However, her good fortune is soon complicated by Alec's libertine ways, and Tess returns home shamed. Once recovered, she separates herself from the gossip by finding work at a dairy farm outside the village.

This selection of Hardy's poetry does full justice to its humanity, integrity, humour and evocative power, ranging from charming anthology pieces such as Weathers to the great love poems he wrote after the death of his first wife and his meditations on war and phillosophy.