115-475: Wessex Poems and Other Verses (often referred to simply as Wessex Poems ) is a collection of fifty-one poems set against the bleak and forbidding Dorset landscape by English writer Thomas Hardy . It was first published in London and New York in 1898 by Harper Brothers , and contained a number of illustrations by the author himself. The collection met a broadly hostile reception, critics being accustomed to Hardy as
230-673: A Tory response to reassert the educational values of the established order. More widely, King's was one of the first of a series of institutions which came about in the early nineteenth century as a result of the Industrial Revolution and great social changes in England following the Napoleonic Wars . By virtue of its foundation King's has enjoyed the patronage of the monarch , the Archbishop of Canterbury as its visitor and during
345-485: A military hospital in 1915 during World War I. It became the King George Military Hospital, and accommodated about 1,800 patients on 63 wards. Now the largest university building in London, the building was acquired by King's in the 1980s and underwent extensive refurbishment in 2000. The building is named after Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins for their major contributions to the discovery of
460-416: A (controversial) writer of prose alone. Hardy himself was taken aback by the failure to recognise his dry humour, as in the (slightly bawdy) 'Bride-Night Fire'. On a more personal note, his wife Emma disliked the section consisting of love lyrics to various recipients; and especially 'The Ivy Wife', which she felt aimed at her. Two notable early poems from the collection (1860s) were " Hap " and 'Amabel' -
575-464: A 50-year lease for the Aldwych Quarter site incorporating the historic Bush House . It has been occupied since 2017. In 2017, former-president and principal Edward Byrne launched Vision 2029, a strategy that seeks to broaden the base of King's, extend the reach of King's, expand access, deliver an extraordinary student experience and strengthen how well the university works together. Strategy 2026
690-635: A Journey", "The Voice" and others from this collection "are by general consent regarded as the peak of his poetic achievement". In a 2007 biography on Hardy, Claire Tomalin argues that Hardy became a truly great English poet after the death of his first wife Emma, beginning with these elegies, which she describes as among "the finest and strangest celebrations of the dead in English poetry." Many of Hardy's poems deal with themes of disappointment in love and life, and "the perversity of fate", presenting these themes with "a carefully controlled elegiac feeling". Irony
805-587: A Military Department to train officers for the Army and the British East India Company , and in 1846 a Theological Department to train Anglican priests. In 1855, King's pioneered evening classes in London; that King's granted students at the evening classes certificates of college attendance to enable them to sit University of London degree exams was cited as an example of the worthlessness of these certificates in
920-529: A close friend of Hardy's for the rest of his life, and introduced him to new scientific findings that cast doubt on literal interpretations of the Bible, such as those of Gideon Mantell . Moule gave Hardy a copy of Mantell's book The Wonders of Geology (1848) in 1858, and Adelene Buckland has suggested that there are "compelling similarities" between the "cliffhanger" section from A Pair of Blue Eyes and Mantell's geological descriptions. It has also been suggested that
1035-441: A consensus. Once, when asked in correspondence by a clergyman, Dr. A. B. Grosart , about the question of reconciling the horrors of human and animal life with "the absolute goodness and non-limitation of God", Hardy replied, Mr. Hardy regrets that he is unable to offer any hypothesis which would reconcile the existence of such evils as Dr. Grosart describes with the idea of omnipotent goodness. Perhaps Dr. Grosart might be helped to
1150-497: A letter to Wellington, he accused the Duke to have in mind "insidious designs for the infringement of our liberty and the introduction of Popery into every department of the State". The letter provoked a furious exchange of correspondence and Wellington accused Winchilsea of imputing him with "disgraceful and criminal motives" in setting up King's College London. When Winchilsea refused to retract
1265-578: A local amateur group, at the time known as the Dorchester Dramatic and Debating Society, but that would become the Hardy Players . His reservations about adaptations of his novels meant he was initially at some pains to disguise his involvement in the play. However, the international success of the play, The Trumpet Major , led to a long and successful collaboration between Hardy and the Players over
SECTION 10
#17328527452971380-604: A novel structured around contrasts, the main opposition is between Swithin St Cleeve and Lady Viviette Constantine, who are presented as binary figures in a series of ways: aristocratic and lower class, youthful and mature, single and married, fair and dark, religious and agnostic...she [Lady Viviette Constantine] is also deeply conventional, absurdly wishing to conceal their marriage until Swithin has achieved social status through his scientific work, which gives rise to uncontrolled ironies and tragic-comic misunderstandings. Fate or chance
1495-404: A plan he and his second almost certainly decided upon before the duel; Wellington took aim and fired wide to the right. Accounts differ as to whether Wellington missed on purpose. Wellington, noted for his poor aim, claimed he did, other reports more sympathetic to Winchilsea claimed he had aimed to kill. Honour was saved and Winchilsea wrote Wellington an apology. "Duel Day" is still celebrated on
1610-770: A poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, he gained fame as the author of novels such as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians ) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound , W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin . Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances, and they are often set in
1725-423: A provisional view of the universe by the recently published Life of Darwin and the works of Herbert Spencer and other agnostics. Hardy frequently conceived of, and wrote about, supernatural forces, particularly those that control the universe through indifference or caprice, a force he called The Immanent Will. He also showed in his writing some degree of fascination with ghosts and spirits. Even so, he retained
1840-509: A strong emotional attachment to the Christian liturgy and church rituals, particularly as manifested in rural communities, that had been such a formative influence in his early years, and Biblical references can be found woven throughout many of Hardy's novels. Hardy's friends during his apprenticeship to John Hicks included Horace Moule (one of the eight sons of Henry Moule ) and the poet William Barnes , both ministers of religion. Moule remained
1955-412: A three-volume epic closet drama The Dynasts (1904–08), and though in some ways a very traditional poet, because he was influenced by folksong and ballads, he "was never conventional," and "persistently experiment[ed] with different, often invented, stanza forms and metres," and made use of "rough-hewn rhythms and colloquial diction". Hardy wrote a number of significant war poems that relate to both
2070-675: A watercolour of the Tudor gatehouse while visiting his father, who was repairing the masonry of the dovecote. He moved to London in 1862 where he enrolled as a student at King's College London . He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association . He joined Arthur Blomfield 's practice as assistant architect in April 1862 and worked with Blomfield on Christ Church, East Sheen Richmond, London where
2185-515: A woman, Linetta de Castelvecchio . The end of the war saw an influx of students, which strained existing facilities to the point where some classes were held in the Principal's house. In World War II, the buildings of King's College London were used by the Auxiliary Fire Service with a number of King's staff, mainly those then known as college servants, serving as firewatchers . Parts of
2300-471: A year. In 1885 Thomas and his wife moved into Max Gate in Dorchester , a house designed by Hardy and built by his brother. Although they became estranged, Emma's death in 1912 had a traumatic effect on him and Hardy made a trip to Cornwall after her death to revisit places linked with their courtship; his Poems 1912–13 reflect upon her death. In 1914, Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale , who
2415-1066: Is Waterloo . The St Thomas' Campus in the London Borough of Lambeth , facing the Houses of Parliament across the Thames, houses parts of the School of Medicine and the Dental Institute. The Florence Nightingale Museum is also located here. The museum is dedicated to Florence Nightingale, the founder of the Nightingale Training School of St Thomas' Hospital (now King's Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care). St Thomas' Hospital became part of King's College London School of Medicine in 1998. The St Thomas' Hospital and Campus were named after St Thomas Becket . The Department of Twin Research ( TwinsUk ), King's College London
SECTION 20
#17328527452972530-710: Is a public research university located in London , England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington . In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London . It is one of the oldest university-level institutions in England . In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology (in 1985),
2645-524: Is a founding member of the King's Health Partners academic health sciences centre , Francis Crick Institute and MedCity . It is the largest European centre for graduate and post-graduate medical teaching and biomedical research, by number of students, and includes the world's first nursing school, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery . King's is generally regarded as part of
2760-609: Is an important element in a number of Hardy's poems, including "The Man He Killed" and "Are You Digging on My Grave". A few of Hardy's poems, such as " The Blinded Bird ", a melancholy polemic against the sport of vinkenzetting , reflect his firm stance against animal cruelty, exhibited in his antivivisectionist views and his membership in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . Although his poems were initially not as well received as his novels had been, Hardy
2875-428: Is another important theme. Hardy's characters often encounter crossroads on a journey, a junction that offers alternative physical destinations but which is also symbolic of a point of opportunity and transition, further suggesting that fate is at work. Far from the Madding Crowd is an example of a novel in which chance has a major role: "Had Bathsheba not sent the valentine, had Fanny not missed her wedding, for example,
2990-458: Is based. Its academic activities are organised into nine faculties, which are subdivided into numerous departments, centres, and research divisions. In 2022/23, King's had a total income of £1.230 billion, of which £236.3 million was from research grants and contracts. It has the fourth largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, and the largest of any in London. King's
3105-723: Is located in St. Thomas' Hospital. The nearest Underground station is Westminster . Denmark Hill Campus is situated in south London near the borders of the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark in Camberwell and is the only campus not situated on the River Thames. The campus consists of King's College Hospital , the Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN). In addition to
3220-656: Is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster , sharing its frontage along the River Thames . The original campus comprises the Grade I listed King's Building of 1831 designed by Sir Robert Smirke , and the King's College London Chapel redesigned in 1864 by Sir Gilbert Scott , with the subsequent purchase of much of adjacent Surrey Street (including the Norfolk and Chesham Buildings) since
3335-660: Is now recognised as one of the great poets of the 20th century, and his verse had a profound influence on later writers, including Robert Frost , W. H. Auden , Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin . Larkin included 27 poems by Hardy compared with only nine by T. S. Eliot in his edition of The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse in 1973. There were fewer poems by W. B. Yeats . Poet-critic Donald Davie 's Thomas Hardy and English Poetry considers Hardy's contribution to ongoing poetic tradition at length and in creative depth. Davie's friend Thom Gunn also wrote on Hardy and acknowledged his stature and example. Hardy's family
3450-696: Is the fifth-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and receives over 69,000 undergraduate applications per year (36,000 domestic and 33,000 international). King's is a member of academic organisations including the Association of Commonwealth Universities , the European University Association , and the Russell Group . King's is home to the Medical Research Council 's MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and
3565-533: Is the intensely maturing experience of which Hardy's modern man is most sensible? In my view it is suffering, or sadness, and extended consideration of the centrality of suffering in Hardy's work should be the first duty of the true critic for which the work is still waiting [...] Any approach to his work, as to any writer's work, must seek first of all to determine what element is peculiarly his, which imaginative note he strikes most plangently, and to deny that in this case it
Wessex Poems and Other Verses - Misplaced Pages Continue
3680-559: Is the sometimes gentle, sometimes ironic, sometimes bitter but always passive apprehension of suffering is, I think, wrong-headed. In Two on a Tower , for example, Hardy takes a stand against these rules of society with a story of love that crosses the boundaries of class. The reader is forced to reconsider the conventions set up by society for the relationships between men and women. Nineteenth-century society had conventions, which were enforced. In this novel Swithin St Cleeve's idealism pits him against such contemporary social constraints. In
3795-546: The Baptist Church . Hardy flirted with conversion, but decided against it. Bastow went to Australia and maintained a long correspondence with Hardy, but eventually Hardy tired of these exchanges and the correspondence ceased. This concluded Hardy's links with the Baptists. The irony and struggles of life, coupled with his naturally curious mind, led him to question the traditional Christian view of God: The Christian God –
3910-518: The Boer Wars and World War I , including "Drummer Hodge", "In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations'" and " The Man He Killed "; his work had a profound influence on other war poets such as Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon . Hardy in these poems often used the viewpoint of ordinary soldiers and their colloquial speech. A theme in the Wessex Poems is the long shadow that the Napoleonic Wars cast over
4025-615: The Francis Crick Institute , committing £40 million to the project. The Chemistry department was reopened in 2011 following its closure in 2003. In February 2012, Her Majesty The Queen officially opened Somerset House East Wing. In September 2014, King's College London opened King's College London Mathematics School , a free school sixth form located in Lambeth that specialises in mathematics. In October 2014, Ed Byrne replaced Rick Trainor as Principal of King's College London,
4140-685: The GKT School of Medical Education . Also in 1998 Florence Nightingale 's original training school for nurses merged with the King's Department of Nursing Studies as the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery . The same year King's acquired the former Public Record Office building on Chancery Lane and converted it at a cost of £35 million into the Maughan Library , which opened in 2002. In July 2006, King's College London
4255-574: The Hepatitis D genome , and the Higgs boson ; pioneers of in-vitro fertilisation , stem cell / mammal cloning and the modern hospice movement; and key researchers advancing radar, radio, television and mobile phones. Alumni also include heads of states, governments and intergovernmental organisations; seventeen members of the current House of Commons , two Speakers of the House of Commons and thirteen members of
4370-766: The Institute of Psychiatry (in 1997), the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (in 1998). King's has five campuses: its historic Strand Campus in central London, three other Thames -side campuses (Guy's, St Thomas' and Waterloo) nearby and one in Denmark Hill in south London . It also has a presence in Shrivenham , Oxfordshire , for its professional military education, and another in Newquay , Cornwall , where its information service centre
4485-608: The National Trust . Hardy's first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady , finished by 1867, failed to find a publisher. He then showed it to his mentor and friend, the Victorian poet and novelist George Meredith , who felt that The Poor Man and the Lady would be too politically controversial and might damage Hardy's ability to publish in the future. So Hardy followed his advice and he did not try further to publish it. He subsequently destroyed
4600-540: The Nobel Prize in Literature . He was nominated again for the prize 11 years later and received a total of 25 nominations until 1927. He was at least once, in 1923, one of the final candidates for the prize, but was not awarded. Hardy's interest in the theatre dated from the 1860s. He corresponded with various would-be adapters over the years, including Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886 and Jack Grein and Charles Jarvis in
4715-787: The Southbank Centre in the London Borough of Lambeth and consists of the James Clerk Maxwell Building, the Franklin – Wilkins Building and the Waterloo Bridge Wing Building. Cornwall House, now the Franklin-Wilkins Building, constructed between 1912 and 1915 was originally the His Majesty's Stationery Office (responsible for Crown copyright and National Archives ), but was requisitioned for use as
Wessex Poems and Other Verses - Misplaced Pages Continue
4830-450: The " golden triangle " of universities located in the cities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. King's has often had royal patronage by virtue of its foundation, with the late Queen Elizabeth II having been patron and her son King Charles III taking over patronage in May 2024. King's alumni and staff include 14 Nobel laureates ; contributors to the discovery of DNA structure, Hepatitis C ,
4945-519: The "Authors' Declaration", justifying Britain's involvement in the First World War . This manifesto declared that the German invasion of Belgium had been a brutal crime, and that Britain "could not without dishonour have refused to take part in the present war." Hardy was horrified by the destruction caused by the war, pondering that "I do not think a world in which such fiendishness is possible to be worth
5060-490: The 1820s, and research into these has provided insight into how Hardy used them in his works. The opening chapter of The Mayor of Casterbridge , for example, written in 1886, was based on press reports of wife-selling. In the year of his death Mrs Hardy published The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1841–1891 , compiled largely from contemporary notes, letters, diaries and biographical memoranda, as well as from oral information in conversations extending over many years. Hardy's work
5175-663: The 1829 charter (although King's remained incorporated under that charter). The act also changed King's College London from a (technically) for-profit corporation to a non-profit one (no dividends had ever been paid in over 50 years of operation) and extended the objects of King's to include the education of women. The Ladies' Department of King's College London was opened in Kensington Square in 1885, which later in 1902 became King's College Women's Department. The King's College London Act 1903 ( 3 Edw. 7 . c. xcii) abolished all remaining religious tests for staff, except within
5290-432: The 19th century, as seen, for example, in "The Sergeant's Song" and "Leipzig". The Napoleonic War is the subject of The Dynasts . Some of Hardy's more famous poems are from Poems 1912–13 , which later became part of Satires of Circumstance (1914), written following the death of his wife Emma in 1912. They had been estranged for 20 years, and these lyric poems express deeply felt "regret and remorse". Poems like "After
5405-624: The Guy's Campus including activity rooms, meeting rooms alongside a student cafe; The Shed and student bar; Guy's Bar. Guy's Campus is located opposite the Old Operating Theatre Museum , which was part of old St Thomas Hospital in Southwark. The nearest Underground stations are London Bridge and Borough . The Waterloo Campus is located across Waterloo Bridge from the Strand Campus, near
5520-744: The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, parts of the Dental Institute and School of Medicine, and a large hall of residence, King's College Hall, are situated here. Other buildings include the campus library known as the Weston Education Centre (WEC), the James Black Centre, the Rayne Institute (haemato-oncology) and the Cicely Saunders Institute ( palliative care ). The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute
5635-411: The King's Buildings between 2004 and 2006, and renovation of the East Wing of Somerset House between 2009 (when the college secured a 78 year lease) and 2012, and the completion of the £10 million Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care on the Denmark Hill campus. More recently, a £42 million development for the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute was completed in 2016, and a sports pavilion
5750-449: The Native (1878). In 1880, Hardy published his only historical novel, The Trumpet-Major . A further move to Wimborne saw Hardy write Two on a Tower , published in 1882, a romance story set in the world of astronomy. Then in 1885, they moved for the last time, to Max Gate , a house outside Dorchester designed by Hardy and built by his brother. There he wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887) and Tess of
5865-439: The Office of the President and Principal. Since 2010, the campus has expanded rapidly to incorporate the East Wing of Somerset House and the Virginia Woolf Building next to LSE on Kingsway . It has also expanded to incorporate Bush House , which formerly housed the BBC World Service . The nearest Underground stations are Temple , Charing Cross and Covent Garden . Guy's Campus is situated close to London Bridge and
SECTION 50
#17328527452975980-473: The Second World War and the 1972 Strand Building. The Macadam Building of 1975 houses the Strand Campus Students' Union and is named after King's alumnus Sir Ivison Macadam , first President of the National Union of Students . The Strand Campus houses the arts and science faculties of King's, including the faculties of Arts & Humanities , Law , Business, Social Science & Public Policy and Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences. It also houses
6095-415: The Senior department teaching was divided into three courses: a general course comprised divinity, classical languages, mathematics, English literature and history; a medical course; and miscellaneous subjects, such as law, political economy and modern languages, which were not related to any systematic course of study at the time and depended for their continuance on the supply of occasional students. In 1833
6210-490: The Shard on the South Bank of the Thames and is home to the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine and the Dental Institute. The campus is named for Thomas Guy , the founder and benefactor of Guy's Hospital established in 1726 in the London Borough of Southwark . Buildings include: the Henriette Raphael building, constructed in 1902, the Gordon Museum of Pathology , the Hodgkin building, Shepherd's House and Guy's Chapel. The Students' Union has extensive facilities on
6325-424: The Strand building, the quadrangle , and the roof of apse and stained glass windows of the chapel suffered bomb damage in the Blitz . During the post-war reconstruction, the vaults beneath the quadrangle were replaced by a two-storey laboratory, which opened in 1952, for the departments of Physics and Civil and Electrical Engineering. One of the most famous pieces of scientific research performed at King's were
6440-562: The Strand designed by E. D. Jefferiss Mathews was opened in 1972. In 1980 King's regained its legal independence under a new Royal Charter. In 1993 King's, along with other large University of London colleges, gained direct access to government funding (which had previously been through the university) and the right to confer University of London degrees itself. This contributed to King's and the other large colleges being regarded as de facto universities in their own right. King's College London underwent several mergers with other institutions in
6555-409: The Theological department. In 1910, King's was (with the exception of the Theological department) merged into the University of London under the King's College London (Transfer) Act 1908 ( 8 Edw. 7 . c. xxxix), losing its legal independence. During the First World War, the medical school was opened to women for the first time. From 1916 to 1921, the college's Department of Italian was headed by
6670-410: The UK armed services through the Joint Services Command and Staff College since 2000 under contract to the Ministry of Defence . Between 1999 and 2010, more than half of King's activities were moved into new or refurbished buildings. Major projects in this period included a £40 million renovation of the former public records office to become the Maughan Library in 2002, a £40 million renovation of
6785-426: The abbey's famous Poets' Corner . A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in Poets' Corner. Hardy's estate at death was valued at £ 95,418 (equivalent to £7,300,000 in 2023). Shortly after Hardy's death, the executors of his estate burnt his letters and notebooks, but twelve notebooks survived, one of them containing notes and extracts of newspaper stories from
6900-472: The age of eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last's Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester, where he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential. Because Hardy's family lacked the means for a university education, his formal education ended at the age of sixteen, when he became apprenticed to James Hicks, a local architect. He worked on the design of the new church at nearby Athelhampton, situated just opposite Athelhampton House where he painted
7015-399: The book: "After these [hostile] verdicts from the press its next misfortune was to be burnt by a bishop – probably in his despair at not being able to burn me". Despite this, Hardy had become a celebrity by the 1900s, but some argue that he gave up writing novels because of the criticism of both Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure . The Well-Beloved , first serialised in 1892,
SECTION 60
#17328527452977130-450: The cause of death was cited, on his death certificate, as "cardiac syncope", with "old age" given as a contributory factor. His funeral was on 16 January at Westminster Abbey , and it proved a controversial occasion because Hardy had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. His family and friends concurred; however, his executor, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell , insisted that he be placed in
7245-434: The character of Henry Knight in A Pair of Blue Eyes was based on Horace Moule. Throughout his life, Hardy sought a rationale for believing in an afterlife or a timeless existence, turning first to spiritualists, such as Henri Bergson , and then to Albert Einstein and J. M. E. McTaggart , considering their philosophy on time and space in relation to immortality. Sites associated with Hardy's own life and which inspired
7360-434: The crucial contributions to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin , together with Raymond Gosling , Alex Stokes , Herbert Wilson , and other colleagues at the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics at King's. Major reconstruction of King's began in 1966 following the publication of the Robbins Report on Higher Education. A new block facing
7475-414: The current House of Lords ; and the recipients of three Oscars , three Grammys , one Emmy , one Golden Globe , and one Booker Prize . King's College, so named to indicate the patronage of King George IV , was founded in 1829 (though the roots of King's medical school, St. Thomas, date back to the 16th century with recorded first teaching in 1561) in response to the theological controversy surrounding
7590-484: The d'Urbervilles (1891), the last of which attracted criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen woman", and initially it was refused publication. Its subtitle, A Pure Woman: Faithfully Presented , was intended to raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle classes. Jude the Obscure , published in 1895, met with an even stronger negative response from the Victorian public because of its controversial treatment of sex, religion and marriage. Its apparent attack on
7705-420: The decision by the University of London to end the affiliated colleges system in 1858 and open their examinations to everyone. The King's College London Act 1882 ( 45 & 46 Vict. c. xiii) amended the constitution. The act removed the proprietorial nature of King's, changing the name of the corporation from "The Governors and Proprietors of King's College, London" to "King's College London" and annulling
7820-479: The external personality – has been replaced by the intelligence of the First Cause...the replacement of the old concept of God as all-powerful by a new concept of universal consciousness. The 'tribal god, man-shaped, fiery-faced and tyrannous' is replaced by the 'unconscious will of the Universe' which progressively grows aware of itself and 'ultimately, it is to be hoped, sympathetic'. Scholars have debated Hardy's religious leanings for years, often unable to reach
7935-433: The fact that King's is a constituent college of the University of London. All current students with at least one year of study remaining were in August 2007 offered the option of choosing to be awarded a University of London degree or a King's degree. The first King's degrees were awarded in summer 2008. In April 2011, King's became a founding partner in the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, subsequently renamed
8050-401: The first Thursday after 21 March every year, marked by various events throughout King's, including reenactments. King's opened in October 1831 with the cleric William Otter appointed as first principal and lecturer in divinity. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided over the opening ceremony, in which a sermon was given in the chapel by Charles James Blomfield , the Bishop of London , on
8165-562: The first novel by John Cowper Powys , who was a contemporary of Lawrence, was "Dedicated with devoted admiration to the greatest poet and novelist of our age Thomas Hardy". Powys's later novel Maiden Castle (1936) is set in Dorchester , which was Hardy's Casterbridge , and was intended by Powys to be a "rival" to Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge . Maiden Castle is the last of Powys's so-called Wessex novels, Wolf Solent (1929), A Glastonbury Romance (1932) and Weymouth Sands (1934), which are set in Somerset and Dorset. Hardy
8280-473: The founding of "London University" (which later became University College, London ) in 1826. London University was founded, with the backing of Utilitarians , Jews and Nonconformists , as a secular institution, intended to educate "the youth of our middling rich people between the ages of 15 or 16 and 20 or later" giving its nickname, "the godless college in Gower Street". The need for such an institution
8395-495: The general course was reorganised leading to the award of the Associate of King's College (AKC), the first qualification issued by King's. The course, which concerns questions of ethics and theology, is still awarded today to students and staff who take an optional three-year course alongside their studies. The river frontage was completed in April 1835 at a cost of £7,100, its completion a condition of King's College London securing
8510-460: The importance of Hardy for him, even though this work is a platform for Lawrence's own developing philosophy rather than a more standard literary study. The influence of Hardy's treatment of character, and Lawrence's own response to the central metaphysic behind many of Hardy's novels, helped significantly in the development of The Rainbow (1915) and Women in Love (1920). Wood and Stone (1915),
8625-449: The institution of marriage caused strain on Hardy's already difficult marriage because Emma Hardy was concerned that Jude the Obscure would be read as autobiographical. Some booksellers sold the novel in brown paper bags, and Walsham How , the Bishop of Wakefield , is reputed to have burnt his copy. In his postscript of 1912, Hardy humorously referred to this incident as part of the career of
8740-445: The landscape of Hardy's novels include Ireland's Mai-Dun (1921) and Holst's Egdon Heath: A Homage to Thomas Hardy (1927). Hardy has been a significant influence on Nigel Blackwell, frontman of the post-punk British rock band Half Man Half Biscuit , who has often incorporated phrases (some obscure) by or about Hardy into his song lyrics. King%27s College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL )
8855-525: The late 20th century. These including the reincorporation in 1983 of the King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, which had become independent of King's College Hospital at the foundation of the National Health Service in 1948, mergers with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College in 1985, and the Institute of Psychiatry in 1997. In 1998 the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals merged with King's to form
8970-427: The latter exploring the theme of sexual attraction impacted by age taken up by The Well-Beloved . 'She at His Funeral' was a tribute to Hardy's friend Horace Moule ; while the bitter " Neutral Tones " and the cheerful 'Sergeant's Song' show further aspects of Hardy's range of poetic subjects. Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in
9085-497: The latter having served for 10 years. In December 2014, King's announced its plans to rebrand its name to 'King's London'. It was emphasised that there were no plans to change the legal name of King's, and that the name 'King's London' was designed to promote King's and to highlight the fact that King's is a university in its own right. King's announced that the rebranding plans had been dropped in January 2015. In 2015, King's acquired
9200-532: The manuscript, but used some of the ideas in his later work. In his recollections in Life and Work , Hardy described the book as "socialistic, not to say revolutionary; yet not argumentatively so." After he abandoned his first novel, Hardy wrote two new ones that he hoped would have more commercial appeal, Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), both of which were published anonymously; it
9315-668: The medical schools at the London hospitals could confer degrees. In 1835 the government announced that it would establish an examining board to grant degrees, with "London University" and King's both becoming affiliated colleges. This became the University of London in 1836, the former "London University" becoming University College, London (UCL). The first University of London degrees were awarded to King's College London students in 1839. In 1840, King's opened its own hospital on Portugal Street near Lincoln's Inn Fields , an area composed of overcrowded rookeries characterised by poverty and disease. The governance of King's College Hospital
9430-609: The nineteenth century counted among its official governors the Lord Chancellor , Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Mayor of London . The simultaneous support of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (who was also Prime Minister of the United Kingdom then), for an Anglican King's College London and the Roman Catholic Relief Act , which was to lead to the granting of almost full civil rights to Catholics,
9545-443: The parish church at Puddletown, close to his home at Max Gate. He became a frequent visitor at Athelhampton House , which he knew from his teenage years, and in his letters he encouraged the owner, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine, to conduct the restoration of that building in a sensitive way. In 1914, Hardy was one of 53 leading British authors—including H. G. Wells , Rudyard Kipling and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle —who signed their names to
9660-401: The protagonists, is left literally hanging off a cliff. Elements of Hardy's fiction reflect the influence of the commercially successful sensation fiction of the 1860s, particularly the legal complications in novels such as Desperate Remedies (1871), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) and Two on a Tower (1882). In Far from the Madding Crowd , Hardy first introduced the idea of calling
9775-461: The region in the west of England, where his novels are set, Wessex . Wessex had been the name of an early Saxon kingdom, in approximately the same part of England. Far from the Madding Crowd was successful enough for Hardy to give up architectural work and pursue a literary career. Over the next 25 years, Hardy produced 10 more novels. Subsequently, Hardy moved from London to Yeovil , and then to Sturminster Newton , where he wrote The Return of
9890-696: The remaining years of his life. Indeed, his play The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse (1923) was written to be performed by the Hardy Players. From the 1880s, Hardy became increasingly involved in campaigns to save ancient buildings from destruction, or destructive modernisation, and he became an early member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings . His correspondence refers to his unsuccessful efforts to prevent major alterations to
10005-458: The remarks, Wellington – by his own admission, "no advocate of duelling" and a virgin duellist – demanded satisfaction in a contest of arms: "I now call upon your lordship to give me that satisfaction for your conduct which a gentleman has a right to require, and which a gentleman never refuses to give." The result was a duel in Battersea Fields on 21 March 1829. Winchilsea did not fire,
10120-514: The same decade. Neither adaptation came to fruition, but Hardy showed he was potentially enthusiastic about such a project. One play that was performed, however, caused him a certain amount of pain. His experience of the controversy and lukewarm critical reception that had surrounded his and Comyns Carr 's adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd in 1882 left him wary of the damage that adaptations could do to his literary reputation. So, in 1908, he so readily and enthusiastically became involved with
10235-578: The saving" and "better to let western 'civilization' perish, and let the black and yellow races have a chance." He wrote to John Galsworthy that "the exchange of international thought is the only possible salvation for the world." Shortly after helping to excavate the Fordington mosaic , Hardy became ill with pleurisy in December 1927 and died at Max Gate just after 9 pm on 11 January 1928, having dictated his final poem to his wife on his deathbed;
10350-467: The semi-fictional region of Wessex ; initially based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in south-west and south central England. Two of his novels, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd , were listed in the top 50 on the BBC 's survey The Big Read . Thomas Hardy
10465-528: The settings of his novels continue to attract literary tourists and casual visitors. For locations in Hardy's novels see: Thomas Hardy's Wessex , and the Thomas Hardy's Wessex research site, which includes maps. Hardy corresponded with and visited Lady Catherine Milnes Gaskell at Wenlock Abbey and many of Lady Catherine's books are inspired by Hardy, who was very fond of her. D. H. Lawrence 's Study of Thomas Hardy (1914, first published 1936) indicates
10580-580: The site from the Crown. Unlike those in the school, student numbers in the Senior department remained almost stationary during King's first five years of existence. During this time the medical school was blighted by inefficiency and the divided loyalties of the staff leading to a steady decline in attendance. One of the most important appointments was that of Charles Wheatstone as professor of Experimental Philosophy. At this time neither King's, "London University", nor
10695-450: The story would have taken an entirely different path." Indeed, Hardy's main characters often seem to be held in fate's overwhelming grip. In 1898, Hardy published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems , a collection of poems written over 30 years. While some suggest that Hardy gave up writing novels following the harsh criticism of Jude the Obscure in 1896, the poet C. H. Sisson calls this "hypothesis" "superficial and absurd". In
10810-491: The structure of DNA. Today it is home to: The adjacent James Clerk Maxwell Building houses the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care and many of the central professional services functions of the college. The Building was named after Scottish mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell , who was the Professor of Natural Philosophy at King's from 1860 to 1865. The nearest Underground station
10925-465: The subject of combining religious instruction with intellectual culture. Despite the attempts to make King's Anglican-only, the initial prospectus permitted, "nonconformists of all sorts to enter the college freely". William Howley : the governors and the professors, except the linguists, had to be members of the Church of England but the students did not, though attendance at chapel was compulsory. King's
11040-612: The tower collapsed in 1863, and All Saints' parish church in Windsor, Berkshire , in 1862–64. A reredos , possibly designed by Hardy, was discovered behind panelling at All Saints' in August 2016. In the mid-1860s, Hardy was in charge of the excavation of part of the graveyard of St Pancras Old Church before its destruction when the Midland Railway was extended to a new terminus at St Pancras . Hardy never felt at home in London, because he
11155-503: The tradition of George Eliot , he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism , including the poetry of 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 . While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as
11270-504: The twentieth century Hardy published only poetry. Thomas Hardy published Poems of the Past and the Present in 1901, which contains " The Darkling Thrush " (originally titled "The Century's End"), one of his best known poems about the turn of the century . Thomas Hardy wrote in a great variety of poetic forms, including lyrics , ballads , satire, dramatic monologues and dialogue, as well as
11385-429: Was Anglican , but not especially devout. He was baptised at the age of five weeks and attended church, where his father and uncle contributed to music. He did not attend the local Church of England school, instead being sent to Mr Last's school, three miles away. As a young adult, he befriended Henry R. Bastow (a Plymouth Brethren man), who also worked as a pupil architect, and who was preparing for adult baptism in
11500-502: Was 39 years his junior. He remained preoccupied with his first wife's death and tried to overcome his remorse by writing poetry. In his later years, he kept a Wire Fox Terrier named Wessex, who was notoriously ill-tempered. Wessex's grave stone can be found on the Max Gate grounds. In 1910, Hardy had been appointed a Member of the Order of Merit and was also for the first time nominated for
11615-405: Was a result of the religious and social nature of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which then educated solely the sons of wealthy Anglicans . The secular nature of London University gained disapproval, indeed, "the storms of opposition which raged around it threatened to crush every spark of vital energy which remained". The creation of King's College as a rival institution represented
11730-427: Was acutely conscious of class divisions and his own feelings of social inferiority. During this time he became interested in social reform and the works of John Stuart Mill . He was introduced by his Dorset friend Horace Moule to the works of Charles Fourier and Auguste Comte . Mill's essay On Liberty was one of Hardy's cures for despair, and in 1924 he declared that "my pages show harmony of view with" Mill. He
11845-570: Was admired by many younger writers, including D. H. Lawrence , John Cowper Powys and Virginia Woolf . In his autobiography Good-Bye to All That (1929), Robert Graves recalls meeting Hardy in Dorset in the early 1920s and how Hardy received him and his new wife warmly, and was encouraging about his work. Hardy's birthplace in Bockhampton and his house Max Gate , both in Dorchester, are owned by
11960-652: Was also attracted to Matthew Arnold 's and Leslie Stephen 's ideal of the urbane liberal freethinker. After five years, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset, settling in Weymouth , and decided to dedicate himself to writing. In 1870, while on an architectural mission to restore the parish church of St Juliot in Cornwall, Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Gifford , whom he married on 17 September 1874, at St Peter's Church, Paddington , London. The couple rented St David's Villa, Southborough (now Surbiton ) for
12075-419: Was announced in 2022 as a refreshed path towards delivering Vision 2029, with four fundamental priorities: Enabling student success; A thriving King's staff community; Sustainable research and innovation excellence; Knowledge with purpose. In 2024, King's announced a major £45.5 million investment in science talent, research, education and infrastructure. The Strand Campus is the founding campus of King's and
12190-496: Was born on 2 June 1840 in Higher Bockhampton (then Upper Bockhampton), a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England, where his father Thomas (1811–1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder. His parents had married at Melbury Osmond on 22 December 1839. His mother, Jemima (née Hand; 1813–1904), was well read, and she educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at
12305-587: Was challenged by George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea , in early 1829. Winchilsea and his supporters wished for King's to be subject to the Test Acts , like the universities of Oxford , where only members of the Church of England could matriculate , and Cambridge , where non-Anglicans could matriculate but not graduate, but this was not Wellington's intent. Winchilsea and about 150 other contributors withdrew their support of King's College London in response to Wellington's support of Catholic emancipation . In
12420-873: Was clearly the starting point for the character of the novelist Edward Driffield in W. Somerset Maugham 's novel Cakes and Ale (1930). Thomas Hardy's works also feature prominently in the American playwright Christopher Durang 's The Marriage of Bette and Boo (1985), in which a graduate thesis analysing Tess of the d'Urbervilles is interspersed with analysis of Matt's family's neuroses. A number of notable English composers, including Gerald Finzi , Benjamin Britten , Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst set poems by Hardy to music. Others include Holst's daughter Imogen Holst , John Ireland , Muriel Herbert , Ivor Gurney and Robin Milford . Orchestral tone poems which evoke
12535-572: Was constructed at Honor Oar Park Sportsground in 2016. The Strand Campus redevelopment won the Green Gown Award in 2007 for sustainable construction. The award recognised the "reduced energy and carbon emissions from a sustainable refurbishment of the historic South Range of the King's Building". King's was also the recipient of the 2003 City Heritage Award for the conversion of the Grade II* listed Maughan Library . A £20 million redevelopment of
12650-442: Was divided into a senior department and a junior department, also known as King's College School , which was originally situated in the basement of the Strand Campus. The Junior department started with 85 pupils and only three teachers, but quickly grew to 500 by 1841, outgrowing its facilities and leading it to relocate to Wimbledon in 1897 where it remains today, though it is no longer associated with King's College London. Within
12765-511: Was granted degree-awarding powers in its own right, as opposed to through the University of London , by the Privy Council . This power remained unexercised until 2007, when King's announced that all students starting courses from September 2007 onwards would be awarded degrees conferred by King's itself, rather than by the University of London. The new certificates however still make reference to
12880-441: Was later transferred to the corporation of the hospital established by the King's College Hospital Act 1851. The hospital moved to new premises in Denmark Hill , Camberwell in 1913. The appointment in 1877 of Joseph Lister as professor of clinical surgery greatly benefited the medical school, and the introduction of Lister's antiseptic surgical methods gained the hospital an international reputation. In 1845 King's established
12995-694: Was opened by the Princess Royal in 2015 at the Denmark Hill Campus. It is named after British philanthropist Maurice Wohl , who had a long association with King's and supported many medical projects. The nearest Overground station is Denmark Hill . Whilst not a formal campus, King's retains an academic presence and estate at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in Shrivenham , Oxfordshire . Through its Defence Studies Department, King's has delivered professional military training to much of
13110-466: Was published in 1897. Considered a Victorian realist, Hardy examines the social constraints on the lives of those living in Victorian England , and criticises those beliefs, especially those relating to marriage, education and religion, that limited people's lives and caused unhappiness. Such unhappiness, and the suffering it brings, is seen by poet Philip Larkin as central in Hardy's works: What
13225-510: Was while working on the latter that he met Emma Gifford, who would become his wife. In 1873 A Pair of Blue Eyes , a novel drawing on Hardy's courtship of Emma, was published under his own name. A plot device popularised by Charles Dickens , the term " cliffhanger " is considered to have originated with the serialised version of A Pair of Blue Eyes (published in Tinsley's Magazine between September 1872 and July 1873) in which Henry Knight, one of
#296703