The achievement of thomas hardy amazonca na na mallett phillip books skip to main contentca hello select your address books hello sign in account lists account returns orders cart all best sellers gift ideas prime new . They offer fresh reading of individual works including his last novel the well beloved and his first collection of verse wessex poems as well as exploring such central topics as the nature of storytelling and the relations between poetry and song. The essays collected here range widely over hardys career as both a novelist and a lyric poet they offer fresh reading of individual works including his last novel the well beloved and his first collection of verse wessex poems as well as exploring such central topics as the nature of storytelling and the relations between poetry and song challenging lucid and accessible these . Thomas hardy born june 2 1840 higher bockhampton dorset england died january 11 1928 dorchester dorset english novelist and poet who set much of his work in wessex his name for the counties of southwestern england