Under the Greenwood Tree or the Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School (English Library)

by David Wright (Author), David Wright (Author), Thomas Hardy (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1979

  $3.40

• Used

  Paperback
  1986

  $3.25

  This edition presents a critically established text based on comparisons of every revised version. Hardy placed this tale among his Novels of Character and Environment, a group which is held to include his most characteristic work.

• New

  Paperback
  1994

  $6.72

  With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Claire Seymour, University of Kent at Canterbury. Under the Greenwood Tree is Hardy's most bright, confident and optimistic novel. This delightful portrayal of a picturesque rural society, tinged with gentle humour and quiet irony, established Hardy as a writer. However, the novel is not merely a charming rural idyll. The double-plot, in which the love story of Dick Dewey and Fancy Day is inter-related with a tragic chapter in the history of Mellstock Choir, hints at the poignant disappearance of a long-lived and highly-valued traditional way of life.