Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Book 13: 30 Books for 30 Days

Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy is about Fancy Day, the daughter of a gardener. Fancy returns to town to care for her sickly father after being away at a fancy school.

Fancy, coming to town where women of eligibility to marry are few and class systems get in the way of love, causes a lot of variable drama for the town and the men in the book.

The format of this story is much like most novels written in this era. Yet, the read is enticing in its form and path.

Summary

The book begins with the Mellstock choir singing and playing Christmas songs on Christmas eve where Dick Dewy sees Fancy Day at the schoolhouse and begins to fall in love with her. He tries to place himself into her life without realizing she is one of the most eligible, and beautiful women in Mellstock which other suitors are fighting to pursue her. 

A sub story, which some may consider the main story, is when a bunch of musicians called the choir are being kicked out of their Sunday church playing because the Vicar Maybold bought a Harmonium (i.e. early word for organ.) 

This pack of engaging characters try various ways to get rid of the threat of this instrument, which makes the book filled with comedy and character richness.

Maybold tells the choir Fancy Day will be playing the organ for Sunday services and they are no longer playing for church anymore. The hilarious minor characters in the choir, with their leader Reuban Dewy are my personal favorite, besides Dick Dewy. 

Here is a snippet of the descriptions of the characters: 

“The first was a bowed and bent man, who carried a fiddle under his arm, and walked as if engaged in studying some subject connected with the surface of the road. He was Michael Mail, the man who had hollered to Dick.

The next was Mr. Robert Penny, boot- and shoemaker; a little man, who, though rather round-shouldered, walked as if that fact had not come to his own knowledge, moving on with his back very hollow and his face fixed on the north-east quarter of the heavens before him, so that his lower waist-coat-buttons came first, and then the remainder of his figure. His features were invisible; yet when he occasionally looked round, two faint moons of light gleamed for an instant from the precincts of his eyes, denoting that he wore spectacles of a circular form.

The third was Elias Spinks, who walked perpendicularly and dramatically. The fourth outline was Joseph Bowman’s, who had now no distinctive appearance beyond that of a human being. Finally came a weak lath-like form, trotting and stumbling along with one shoulder forward and his head inclined to the left, his arms dangling nervelessly in the wind as if they were empty sleeves. This was Thomas Leaf ... .The eldest of the group, Michael Mail, cleared his throat from a great depth.”

These are only a few of the character descriptions by Thomas Hardy. You can visualize and occasionally desire to become friends or avoid them as if they were real, almost as if you could see the characters sitting with you as you read.

The plot is very engaging with its bright characters, all of them talking about Fancy Day and who she might be. When Vicar Maybold teaches Fancy the organ, she is reluctant and doesn't desire to make drama, but she can’t do anything about her being the center drama of everything. 

In my opinion, she is causing it herself by denying what she desires and what her father wants.  Then men all try to gain her attention. She begins to become pompous and denies who she really cares for and denies her own happiness to please her father.

She soon realizes as the seasons pass, she can’t marry anyone unless she loves them. The Players (choir) then pours ale into the organ causing fancy day to look bad and feel embarrassed.  

This then allows all suitors to pursue Fancy Day when Dick is trying to make something better of himself. So he can be on a similar social plane as Dick. However, Fancy Day’s Father wants her to marry Mister Shiner because of wealth.  Fancy Day is asked to marry by three persons.  Fancy is so flattered she neglects the young handsome boy who truly loves her. 

This is where the plot will end for the ending is quite entertaining to read. This work has much humor and many small and simple love scenes which are clean and yet stimulating. 

Why is this a Christmas Book?

Under the Greenwood Tree is a Christmas book because much of the story happens around Christmas, but also because it’s about hymns in church and love. It’s not directed entirely towards the Christmas season, but it’s nice to read a book around Christmas time the isn’t solely about Christmas. 

We kind of took some liberties with this book in our 30 books for 30 days because we knew there may be some of you who want something that may be a little different from our other suggestions. 

It’s got a bit of everything with its romance, it’s olds fashioned small town drama, and it’s antique church themes.