17478. THE PASTORAL IN THE WORKS OF GEORGE ELIOT AND THOMAS HARDY. This paper explores the theme of the pastoral in the works of these two English writers, focusing especially on the pastoral in Eliot’s Adam Bede and Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd – two novels quite similar in their tales of countrywide romance and morality. After defining the pastoral theme and briefly outlining the similarities between the two works, the analysis considers how each author’s background contributed to their focus on the pastoral. Hardy’s and Eliot’s representative works are then compared and contrasted in terms of the use of pastoral themes. Finds that the strongest connection between the two works is the fact that both Eliot and Hardy wished to combine the elements of the pastoral with a sense of realism. KEYWORDS: 19th century English literature pastoral country life thomas hardy george eliot. Written 2004. Harvard Style. 11 pages, 38 footnotes, 11 bibliographic sources. 2,571 words.