Episode 1 of 4
Genesis of Under the Greenwood Tree
- When
- 1871
- Where
- Stinsford church
Hardy began work on the novel in 1871, inspired by a conflict between his grandfather's church choir and a new vicar in Stinsford.
The genesis of the novel was a conflict between Hardy's grandfather's 'string choir' of viols and voices in Stinsford church, and a new vicar who was determined to replace the choir with an up-to-date organ. This conflict provided the initial inspiration for the story.
Sources
- Under the Greenwood Tree Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-14
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.