59 Questions
Who is the reddleman encountered by the elderly hiker on Egdon Heath?
Diggory Venn
What is a reddleman known for selling in the story?
Dye for sheep farmers
Who is standing atop Rainbarrow, as observed by the reddleman?
Eustacia Vye
What local custom involves starting a bonfire on the Fifth of November?
Bonfire night celebration
Why does Mrs. Yeobright take Thomasin to see Wildeve at his inn?
To demand an explanation for Wildeve's failure to marry Thomasin
What do the locals mistake when they serenade Thomasin and Wildeve?
They mistake them for newly married couple
What is Eustacia's reaction to Clym taking up furze cutting?
She is disappointed and sees it as a far cry from the life she desires.
Why does Eustacia see Clym as an escape from her current life on the heath?
Because he has connections in Paris and represents a different lifestyle.
What tragic event occurs when Mrs. Yeobright attempts to visit Clym's house?
She is bitten by an adder (snake).
How does Clym react when he learns about Eustacia's encounter with Wildeve?
He accuses Eustacia of cruelty towards his mother.
What leads to the effective end of Clym and Eustacia's relationship?
Accusations of deception and cruelty
What prompts Eustacia to leave Clym's house and return to Captain Vye's?
Inadvertent signal from a bonfire
What tragic event occurs on a dark, stormy night involving Eustacia, Wildeve, and Clym?
Eustacia throwing herself into a stream
After Eustacia's death, who moves into the family home with Clym?
Thomasin
What role does Venn play after giving up the reddle trade?
He marries Thomasin.
How does the novel 'The Return of the Native' conclude regarding Clym Yeobright's fate?
He ends up as an itinerant preacher giving moral lectures.
Who is Eustacia's former lover in the text?
Damon Wildeve
What event causes Eustacia to make clear that she would like to see Wildeve married to Thomasin?
The Christmas mumming party
What role does Venn play in the marriage between Wildeve and Thomasin?
He serves as a witness
What causes Mrs. Yeobright to become disconsolate and bitter in the text?
Clym's decision to become a schoolteacher on Egdon Heath
What causes Clym to develop severe eye trouble and suspend his work?
Hastening his studies to pacify Eustacia
How does Venn protect Thomasin when Cantle loses Mrs. Yeobright's money?
He wins back the money from Wildeve
What contributes to Mrs. Yeobright and Clym quarreling in the text?
Clym's decision to marry Eustacia against her wishes
What is a common characteristic of Hardy's poems as described in the text?
Experimentation with different stanza forms and metres
Which of the following terms best describes the structure of 'The Dynasts' as discussed in the text?
Impressive
What was Hardy's central vision of the universe as portrayed in 'The Dynasts'?
Governed by Immanent Will
How did the sudden death of Emma Hardy in 1912 impact Thomas Hardy's poetry?
Inspired regret and led to increased productivity
What major event occurred in 1914 in Thomas Hardy's personal life as per the text?
Marriage to Florence Emily Dugdale
'Winter Words' was a poetry collection in which year as mentioned in the text?
1928
Where were Thomas Hardy's cremated remains interred after his death as per the text?
Westminster Abbey
'Satires of Circumstance' included 'Poems of 1912-13' which publicly proclaimed...
Hardy's devotion to Emma Hardy
What was the result of Hardy's novel 'The Poor Man and the Lady'?
It was never published despite being considered by three London publishers.
Which novel by Hardy was influenced by Wilkie Collins' 'sensation' fiction?
Desperate Remedies
What novel by Hardy features a marriage plot reflecting social change related to his father's experiences?
Under the Greenwood Tree
Why did Hardy and Emma Gifford move to Wimborne in 1881 and Dorchester in 1883?
Because of Hardy's serious illness
Which novel by Hardy introduces Wessex for the first time and features a portrayal of Bathsheba Everdene?
Far from the Madding Crowd
Which of Hardy's novels draws heavily upon his courtship with Emma Gifford for its setting and story?
A Pair of Blue Eyes
'The Hand of Ethelberta,' a novel by Hardy, was poorly received due to its focus on what theme?
British class system inversions
'The Return of the Native' by Hardy is increasingly admired for its evocative portrayal of which setting?
Egdon Heath
What was the turning point that signaled Hardy's determination to stay in a town where his humbler background was well known?
Accepting an appointment as a local magistrate
In 'The Mayor of Casterbridge,' what character trait contributes to Michael Henchard's rise to becoming mayor?
Natural energy
Which of Hardy's novels centrally focuses on socioeconomic issues involving characters who make a living from the trees around them?
'The Woodlanders'
In 'Wessex Tales,' what does it mark in Hardy's career as a writer?
First collection of short stories
'The Well-Beloved' by Hardy displays a hostility to which institution?
Marriage
Which of Hardy's novels challenges societal sexual norms through the compassionate portrayal of a seduced heroine?
'Tess of the d’Urbervilles'
What is a characteristic theme shared between 'Tess of the d’Urbervilles' and 'Jude the Obscure'?
Sympathetic representations of working-class figures
'Wessex Poems' marked Hardy's transition from fiction to poetry. What was the reception of his poetry collection at first?
'Wessex Poems' was perceived as miscellaneous and uneven.
What is one reason for the continuing popularity of Thomas Hardy's novels?
Their richly varied yet accessible style
What makes Thomas Hardy unique in terms of his literary status?
He is acknowledged as a major 20th-century poet and novelist
What aspect of Thomas Hardy's work has been slower to gain full acceptance?
His poetic style
What contributes to the nostalgic evocation of a vanished rural world in Hardy's works?
Highly particularized regional settings
Why are Hardy's novels considered suitable for film and television adaptation?
For their nostalgic evocation of rural life and specific regional settings
What contributes to the richly detailed settings in Hardy's fiction?
Intimate knowledge of southwestern England
What is a key element that combines in Hardy's novels to attract readers?
Romantic plots with convincingly presented characters
Why has Hardy been universally recognized for his literary contributions?
'Richly varied yet always accessible style'
Where did Thomas Hardy grow up?
In an isolated cottage
What was fundamental to much of Thomas Hardy's later writing?
His early experience of rural life
What forced Thomas Hardy to abandon his early ambitions of a university education and ordination as an Anglican priest?
Financial constraints and declining religious faith
What redirected Thomas Hardy's habits of intensive private study in the mid-1860s?
Reading of poetry and systematic development of his own poetic skills
Study Notes
The Return of the Native
- The story begins on Egdon Heath, a vast, windswept, and treeless area of heathland, where an older man encounters a horse-drawn van led by Diggory Venn, a reddleman.
- In the van is a young woman, Thomasin Yeobright, who was supposed to marry Damon Wildeve on that day.
- Thomasin and her aunt, Mrs. Yeobright, go to Wildeve's inn to demand an explanation for his failure to marry her.
Characters
- Diggory Venn: a reddleman who helps Thomasin and is an admirer of hers.
- Thomasin Yeobright: the young woman who was supposed to marry Wildeve, but the marriage didn't happen.
- Damon Wildeve: the man who was supposed to marry Thomasin, but didn't show up.
- Eustacia Vye: a mysterious figure who is seen on Rainbarrow, a Celtic burial mound.
Plot Developments
- Wildeve goes to see Eustacia, who is disappointed in him after he didn't marry Thomasin.
- Eustacia hopes to escape her life on the heath and sees Clym Yeobright, Thomasin's cousin, as a way out.
- Clym returns to Egdon Heath to become a schoolteacher, which disappoints his mother, who thinks it's beneath him.
- Eustacia marries Clym, but is unhappy in her marriage and feels trapped on the heath.
###Conflict and Tragedy
- Clym's mother, Mrs. Yeobright, disapproves of Eustacia and doesn't attend their wedding.
- Wildeve and Eustacia rekindle their romance, causing tension in their marriages.
- Mrs. Yeobright dies after being bitten by an adder while trying to reconcile with Clym and Eustacia.
- Eustacia leaves Clym and tries to escape the heath with Wildeve, but they die in a stream, and only Clym survives.
Thomas Hardy's Life and Works
- Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in Dorset, England, and grew up in a rural area that influenced his writing.
- He was apprenticed to an architect, but turned to writing in his mid-20s.
- His early writings were influenced by his rural upbringing and his reading of poetry and literature.
- He wrote several novels, including "The Poor Man and the Lady", "Desperate Remedies", and "Under the Greenwood Tree".
- He married Emma Lavinia Gifford in 1874 and moved to Dorset, where he built a house, Max Gate.
- He wrote "The Return of the Native" in 1878, which was inspired by his own experiences and the landscape of Dorset.### Poetry Collections
- Poems of the Past and the Present (1901) contains nearly twice as many poems as its predecessor, with most of them newly written.
- The poems are grouped by subject or theme, including 11 "War Poems" and a sequence of philosophical poems.
Time's Laughingstocks (1909)
- Poems are arranged under headings, but the principles behind the arrangement are often unclear.
- Hardy's poetry style undergoes no significant change over time.
- Best poems are mixed with inferior verse in any particular volume, and new poems are often juxtaposed with reworkings of poems written years before.
- The range of poems within a volume is broad, from lyric to meditation to ballad to satirical vignette to dramatic monologue or dialogue.
The Dynasts
- Published in three volumes (1903, 1905, and 1908), The Dynasts is a huge poetic drama written mostly in blank verse.
- Subtitled "an epic-drama of the War with Napoleon", it explores major historical events, diversified by prose episodes and an ongoing cosmic commentary from personified "Intelligences".
- Hardy used The Dynasts to project his central vision of a universe governed by the purposeless movements of a blind, unconscious force called the Immanent Will.
Later Life and Works
- After Emma Hardy's death in 1912, Hardy wrote poems of regret and remorse, including "After a Journey" and "The Voice".
- He married Florence Emily Dugdale in 1914, who contributed to his remarkable productivity in old age.
- Hardy published five more volumes of verse: Moments of Vision (1917), Late Lyrics and Earlier (1922), Human Shows (1925), and Winter Words (1928, published posthumously).
Legacy
- Hardy's novels owe their popularity to their richly varied style and nostalgic evocation of a vanished rural world.
- His verse has been slower to win full acceptance, but he is now recognized as a major 20th-century poet and 19th-century novelist.
Test your knowledge on the opening scene of 'The Return of the Native' where an elderly man encounters a horse-drawn van led by Diggory Venn on Egdon Heath. Explore the initial interactions and characters in this classic novel.
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