Thomas Hardy Notes on Hap

Author: Thomas Hardy
First Published: 1898
Type of Poem: Sonnet
Genres: Poetry, Sonnet
Subjects: Suffering, Despair, God, Pain, Good and evil, Gods or goddesses, Fate or fatalism, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Time, Joy or sorrow, Luck or misfortune
The Poem
Thomas Hardy has structured “Hap” to meet all the requirements of the form of an English sonnet: Its fourteen lines are written in iambic pentameter, the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, gg is complied with, and the three quatrains are followed by a rhymed couplet to conclude the poem.
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Hap - Thomas Hardy
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Hap(1)

If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy
That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"

Then would I bear it, clench myself and die,
Steeled by the sense of the ire(2) unmerited;
Half eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted(3) me the tears I shed.

But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
-Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan...
These purblind Doomsters(4) had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.

References:
1 - Chance (aka Casualty @ line 11)
2 - Anger
3 - Given
4 - Half-blind judges

Author:
Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) His works usually show the struggle between nature of man, inside and out, to shape human destiny. only through endurance, heroism or simple act of good can his characters overcome the adversity of unknown forces guiding them through life blindly.

Explanation:

(My professor once said, "To truly enjoy what we have before us, we must not be gluttons. We must be mannered beings who adhere to the rules of society and take in, what we have before us, a morsel at a time.")

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References: Author: Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) His works usually show the struggle between nature of man, inside and out, to shape human destiny ------------------------------------------------- “Hap” is a poem by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) that he wrote in 1866, while working as a trainee architect, and for which he could not find a publisher