Other editions of book Under the Greenwood Tree

The plot concerns the activities of a group of church musicians, the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new school mistress, Fancy Day. The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir--including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and grandfather William Dewy--making the rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve. When little band plays at the schoolhouse, young Dick falls for Fancy at first sight. Dick, smitten, seeks to insinuate himself into her life and affections, but Fancy's beauty has gained her other suitors, including a rich farmer and the new vicar at the parish church.

Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England.

Thomas Hardy's second published novel, "Under the Greenwood Tree", was published in 1872 by Tinsley Brothers in two volumes bound in green cloth. Like "Desperate Remedies", it was published anonymously, but this time Tinsley recognised the value of the novel and offered Hardy 30 pounds for the copyright. In 1873, the novel was published in the United States by Holt & Williams with Hardy's name."Under the Greenwood Tree", set in the small village of Mellstock in Thomas Hardy’s fictional Wessex, is both a love story and a nostalgic study into the disappearance of old traditions and a move towards a more modern way of life. The book is divided into five sections, one for each of the four seasons of the year plus a final concluding section."Under the Greenwood Tree" is the story of the romantic entanglement between church musician, Dick Dewey, and the attractive new school mistress, Fancy Day. A pleasant romantic tale set in the Victorian era, this work is one of Thomas Hardy's most gentle and pastoral novels.

Activities of a group of church musicians, the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new school mistress, Fancy Day. The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir--including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and grandfather William Dewy--making the rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve. When little band plays at the schoolhouse, young Dick falls for Fancy at first sight. Dick, smitten, seeks to insinuate himself into her life and affections, but Fancy's beauty has gained her other suitors, including a rich farmer and the new vicar at the parish church.

Under the Greenwood Tree - a rural painting of the Dutch School - with an etching by H. Macbeth-Raeburn, and a map of Wessex is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1898. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School is a novel by the English writer Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, and the first of what was to become his series of Wessex novels.The novel follows the activities of a group of west gallery musicians, the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new village schoolmistress, Fancy Day.The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir — including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and grandfather William Dewy — making the rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve. When the little band plays at the schoolhouse, young Dick falls for Fancy at first sight. Dick, smitten, seeks to insinuate himself into her life and affections, but Fancy's beauty has gained her other suitors including Shiner, a rich farmer, and Mr Maybold, the new vicar at the parish church.Maybold informs the choir that he intends Fancy, an accomplished organist, to replace their traditional gallery singing and string accompaniment to Sunday services. Reuben Dewy and the rest of the band visit the rectory to negotiate, but reluctantly give way to the vicar's wishes.Dick seems to win Fancy's heart, and the two become secretly engaged. When he is told, Fancy's father is initially opposed, but changes his mind when as a consequence Fancy stops eating and her health deteriorates. Some months later, after Fancy's first Sunday service as organist, Maybold unexpectedly proposes marriage, and promises Fancy a life of relative affluence; racked by guilt and temptation, she accepts. The next day, however, at a chance meeting with Dick, Maybold learns that Fancy is in fact already spoken for. Maybold writes her a letter, admonishing her to be honest with Dick and to withdraw her commitment to him if she indeed meant what she said in accepting Maybold. Fancy, on reconsideration, withdraws her consent to marry Maybold, and asks him to keep her initial acceptance forever a secret. Maybold again urges her to be honest with Dick about the episode.The final chapter is a joyful and humorous portrait of Reuben, William, and the rest of the Mellstock rustics as they celebrate Dick and Fancy's wedding day. The novel concludes after the ceremony with Dick telling Fancy that their happiness must be due to there being such full confidence between them. He says that they will have no secrets from each other, "no secrets at all". Fancy replies “None from to-day” and, changing the subject, thinks "of a secret she would never tell".

Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School is a novel by the English writer Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, and the first of what was to become his series of Wessex novels. Critics recognise it as an important precursor to his later tragic works, setting the scene for the Wessex that the author would return to again and again. Hardy himself called the story of the Mellstock Quire and its west-gallery musicians "a fairly true picture, at first hand, of the personages, ways, and customs which were common among such orchestral bodies in the villages of [the 1850s]."