Original: Thomas Hardy , OM ( 2 June 1840 -- 11 January 1928 ) was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement , although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature , such as his fascination with the supernatural .
Simplified: Thomas Masterson Hardy ( June 2 , 1840 -- January 11 , 1928 ) was an English novelist and poet .