Far from the Madding Crowd: Published in 1874, the book became a hit very soon. At that time, in the peaceful British countryside, people still harvest by hands, travel by carriages; their lives change as the seasons change. Hardy took the title from Thomas Gray's poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard to express his ideal life of staying away from industrialization. However, love, hatred, and all the ups and downs of the characters are not supposed to happen in countryside. Industrialization leaves no peace for any man. Hardy shows his pessimistic determinism in the novel.