AI ToolsNew
Tools to make learning and teaching easier
Question about this poem?
Have a question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Ask us
Ask us
Ask a question
Ask a question
Ask a question
The Full Text of “Hap”
1If but some vengeful god would call to me
2From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,
3Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
4That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"
5Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
6Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
7Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
8Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
9But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
10And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
11—Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
12And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan...
13These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
14Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
-
“Hap” Introduction
-
Thomas Hardy's "Hap" laments the fact that life is governed by chance ("happenstance"). The poem's downtrodden speaker argues that even a cruel god would, in a way, be preferable to random bad luck. Hardy wrote "Hap" in 1866 and later included it in his debut poetry collection, Wessex Poems and Other Verses, in 1898. The poem combines both the English and Italian sonnet forms.
-
-
“Hap” Summary
-
If only some cruel, angry god would call out from the heavens and mock me, saying: "You miserable creature; you should know that your sadness makes me happy. Your lost love is my hate's gain!"
If that were the case, then I would take it on the chin, make myself brave, and die, emboldened by the fact that I was the victim of undeserved anger. That is, I'd be partly reassured that a being stronger than me had decided to punish me with these tears that I cry.
But that's not how things are. How has it come to pass that my happiness is dead? Why do my best hopes, planted in the ground like seeds, wither away? It's because brute Chance blocks out the sun and rain, while Time rolls the dice for fun. These partially blind doom-mongers could just as easily have spread happy things in my life's path as sorrows.
-
-
“Hap” Themes
-
Chance and Suffering
"Hap" laments the fact that human life is governed by chance. It would be better to suffer the malice of a hateful deity, the poem argues, than to put up with random bad luck. If only “some vengeful god” were to appear and confess to taking pleasure in torturing the speaker, the speaker feels they could at least die with some sense of understanding. But there's no plan or personality guiding the cosmos, the speaker says. Existence, in this poem's view, is just a series of arbitrary events—and that arbitrariness is harder to bear than divine injustice.
The speaker is unhappy with their life and seemingly with human existence in general. Life is full of ups and downs; for this speaker, it's been mostly downs. They complain of "love's loss," "tears," "slain" happiness, and the "unbloom[ing]" of "the best hope ever sown." In other words, there were times when life seemed to be looking up for the speaker—but nothing ever worked out as they hoped. Completely jaded, the speaker declares that "joy lies slain" and "hope" fades, as if these were universal truths.
The speaker reflects that if an evil God were causing all this pain, suffering would at least have some sort of explanation—and people could find relief from their pain in suicide. The existence of a "vengeful god," however terrifying, would at least provide a reason for human suffering. Simply understanding would "Half-ease[]," or partly comfort, the speaker. The speaker thus wishes some divine figure, calling down from "the sky," would confess that it savors human "sorrow"—and that it had "willed" all the speaker's misery. If this were so, suicide would seem like a logical and justified choice, a simple way out of a terrible predicament.
But life isn't that simple, the poem argues, and there's no divine plan at work, spiteful or otherwise. Everything happens randomly; suffering is doubly hard to bear because it's not only painful but completely arbitrary. According to the speaker, the world is governed not by a god but by the blind forces of "Time" and "Casualty" (chance). Though personified, these aren't conscious gods, just brutal facts of life. (The title word "Hap," or happenstance, refers to random chance as well.)
Statistically, the speaker would have been just as likely to experience "blisses" as "pain," but things didn't work out that way. And that's exactly what's so frustrating: human beings have no power over how their lives pan out, and no "god," good or bad, will ever help them make sense of it all. In short, "Hap" laments the fact that life plays out haphazardly. It's governed by sheer luck—and there's no way of knowing or controlling which way the dice will fall.
- See where this theme is active in the poem.
-
-
Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Hap”
-
Lines 1-4
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!""Hap" is a sonnet in which the speaker laments the way that their life has turned out. The poem presents life as a game of chance—one which the speaker feels they've been losing, leading them to conclude that there is no god. True to the sonnet form, this borrows the language of logic/argument: if only x were true, then I could do y.
First, the poem imagines an angry "god" calling down from heaven, mocking the speaker. Note how "god" here isn't capitalized, indicating that the speaker doesn't really believe in the existence of the deity being discussed.
The speaker imagines their suffering making this god happy: "thy sorrow is my ecstasy." The antithesis between the speaker's "sorrow" and the god's "ecstasy" creates the impression of a logical system at work. While cruel and unfair, suffering, in this system, would at least have a purpose or explanation. Human beings would be the playthings of a higher power, placed in terrible situations as a kind of divine amusement.
The fourth line gets more specific: the speaker imagines a god taking special delight in the speaker's "loss" of love. This implies that the speaker has recently gone through a breakup (or, perhaps, that their beloved has died). The god's hate increases (metaphorically "profits") from the speaker losing what's most dear to them. This is a simple equation with a weirdly reassuring balance to it; the speaker wishes life were this straightforward.
Notice how the spitting, hissing quality of the sibilance in these lines makes this "vengeful God" seem extra bitter and hateful: "sky," "suffering," "sorrow," "ecstasy," "loss."
Note, too, that the poem is written in iambic pentameter. This is the typical meter of sonnets, in which each line consists of five iambs (poetic feet with a da-DUM rhythm). Here's that meter at work in the first line:
If but | some venge- | ful god | would call | to me
These iambs steadily plod along, subtly evoking the speaker's state of weary resignation. But there's an important variation in line 3, which begins with a trochee (the opposite of an iamb): "Know that." That stress on the word "Know" emphasizes the god's command to the speaker to know their place in the world.
-
Lines 5-8
Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
Unlock all 298 words of this analysis of Lines 5-8 of “Hap,” and get the Line-by-Line Analysis for every poem we cover.
Plus so much more...
Get LitCharts A+ -
Lines 9-10
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown? -
Lines 11-14
—Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan...
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
-
-
“Hap” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
-
Alliteration
"Hap" uses alliteration for dramatic effect, bringing its ideas to life on the page and often conveying the speaker's frustration. Sometimes alliteration emphasizes the thematic link between words as well.
In the first stanza, hissing /s/ alliteration in "sky," "suffering," and "sorrow" makes the speaker's imagined "vengeful god" seem all the more mean and hateful. The lines feature broader sibilance as well, boosting the effect:
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!"It sounds like this imagined god is practically spitting out these words from on high.
Later in the poem, the speaker uses alliteration again when describing the forces that really seem to govern human life. "Crass Casualty," a.k.a chance, a.k.a "hap," has a suitably crass-sounding name. Those sharp /c/ sounds make this personified figure seem brutish and totally uncaring. The phrase leaps off the page, evoking how much this chance figure has ruined the speaker's life.
In the last line, alliteration again conveys frustration while also linking important words together. The speaker's "pilgrimage"—that is, their life's journey"—has been full of "pain." Life, in this case, is suffering. The plosive /p/ sounds are aggressive, helping to convey the idea of life as a punishing experience.
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Antithesis
Unlock all 161 words of this analysis of Antithesis in “Hap,” and get the poetic device analyses for every poem we cover.
Plus so much more...
Get LitCharts A+ -
Metaphor
-
Personification
-
-
“Hap” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- But
- Vengeful
- Thou/Thy
- Ecstasy
- Profiting
- Bear
- Clench Myself
- Steeled
- Ire
- Unmerited
- Half-eased
- Powerfuller
- Meted
- How arrives it
- Slain
- Unblooms
- Sown
- Crass
- Casualty
- Dicing
- Casts
- Purblind
- Doomsters
- Readily
- Strown
- Blisses
- Pilgrimage
But-
Only.
- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
-
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Hap”
-
Form
"Hap" is a mixture of a Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet:
- It consists of 14 lines of iambic pentameter (more on that in the Meter section of this guide).
- Like a Petrarchan (a.k.a. Italian) sonnet, the poem can be broken up into an octave (the opening eight lines) and a sestet (the closing six lines).
- That octave can be further broken down into two quatrains (or four-line stanzas), following an ABAB CDCD rhyme scheme. This is actually the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean (a.k.a. English) sonnet. Otherwise, however, the poem sticks to the Petrarchan form.
- This mish-mash of forms might reflect the poem's main idea: at first seems like there's one particular form guiding the poem, which the sestet then upends—not coincidentally, just as the speaker starts talking about the way chance has ruined his life.
Sonnet speakers are often working through a problem of some sort, which is precisely what happens in "Hap." Petrarchan sonnets also feature a shift in the poem's argument in line 9. This is called the poem's turn or volta, and it appears right on schedule in "Hap":
- While the poem's octave muses on the existence of a vengeful god who's ruining the speaker's life, the speaker declares in line 9 that this is "not so." That is, there is no "vengeful god" who's got it out for the speaker; on the contrary, the speaker's misfortune is the fault of dumb luck.
- The speaker spends the rest of the sestet expanding on the idea that life is ruled by happenstance.
Note, too, that sonnets are often poems about love. The sonnet is thus an especially appropriate form for this poem, where "love's loss" is making the speaker miserable.
-
Meter
Like most sonnets, "Hap" is written in iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic foot with two syllables arranged in an unstressed-stressed pattern (da-DUM), while pentameter means there are five iambs per line. Here's how that looks in line 1:
If but | some venge-| ful god | would call | to me
Iambic pentameter lends the poem a, perhaps reluctant, sense of motion. The steady, marching beat subtly conveys the speaker's acceptance of life's misery.
Occasional variations in the poem's meter keep things from feely too stiff or plodding, however, and call readers' attention to important moments. For example, a trochee (stressed-unstressed; DUM-da) opens line 3, adding force to the imagined god's command that the speaker "Know" how much pleasure this god derives from the speaker's pain:
Know that | thy sor- | row is | my ecs- | tasy,
Line 6 also begins with a trochee, appropriately adding oomph to the phrase "Steeled by." This evokes how emboldened the speaker would feel by the existence of a malicious god because this would, at least, make some sense of suffering.
Finally, listen to the powerful spondee (stressed-stressed) that starts line 11: "Crass Ca-." This makes the personified figure of chance seem all the more clumsy and lumbering.
-
Rhyme Scheme
"Hap" follows the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEFFE.
Those first two quatrains thus follow the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet, while the sestet's rhyme scheme is a variation on the Petrarchan sonnet form. This shift subtly mirrors the poem's content. The poem's octave considers the existence of a vengeful god guiding the speaker's life, while the sestet insists that life is in fact totally random; similarly, the first eight lines follow a predictable pattern, while the final six lines switch to an entirely new pattern.
-
-
“Hap” Speaker
-
The speaker of "Hap" is terribly unhappy. Life clearly hasn't gone the way they'd hoped; in fact, their hopes have all "unbloom[ed]," withered away. They've lost their love, their "joy lies slain," and their life's road is littered with "pain."
The speaker wishes that their suffering was due to the malice of some hateful god who found joy in the speaker's misery. If this were the case, the speaker argues, then there would be some explanation for their misfortune. However unfair their punishment, the speaker would at least understand why they've been having such a hard time. They'd be "Half-eased," mildly soothed, knowing that some more powerful being was behind their sorrow.
The speaker declares that this isn't the case, however. They believe that they're simply the victim of bad luck, personified as a bumbling gambler playing with the speaker's life.
-
-
“Hap” Setting
-
The poem doesn't have a specific setting. Instead, it considers the speaker's life in general. Readers might assume that the speaker has recently gone through a breakup, given the reference to lost love. At the very least, the speaker has experienced a string of hardships that they attribute to "Crass Casualty" and "dicing Time." Otherwise, the poem doesn't reference any specific time or place; it's simply set in the world, a place the speaker considers ruled by randomness.
-
-
Literary and Historical Context of “Hap”
Literary Context
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was an English poet and a novelist, known for his passionate opposition to the cruelty and hypocrisy of the buttoned-up Victorian world he was born into. Though most famous now for novels like Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, during Hardy's lifetime these frank and shocking books weren't especially well-received, and he made his reputation as a poet.
Hardy wrote "Hap" in the 1860s and later included it in his 1898 collection Wessex Poems and Other Verses. These poems were collected over the decades and set against the same semi-fictional backdrop as Hardy's novels: Wessex.
"Hap" might be thought of as a kind of companion piece with "Neutral Tones," which juxtaposes a failing romance with an ominously "grayish" or "Neutral"-colored landscape. Critics presume that "Neutral Tones" was written about Hardy's cousin, Tryphena Sparks, and it's possible that the same is true of this poem.
"Hap," like the rest of Hardy's poetry, features conventional meter and rhyme, the tools that dominated pre-20th-century verse. The poem also conveys much the same philosophical pessimism that marks Hardy's writing more broadly. His skeptical outlook influenced a number of 20th-century poets, including Robert Frost and Philip Larkin.
Historical Context
Hardy grew up in 1840s and 1850s England, making him a man of the Victorian era, which lasted from 1837 to 1901.
This period can be simultaneously described as a time of great advancement and great loss. Thanks to scientific developments by people like Charles Darwin, the geologist Charles Lyle, and the paleontologist Richard Owen, Victorian writers (and people more generally) were faced with stark evidence that at best cast doubt on the literal interpretation of the Bible and at worst disproved God altogether. Here, Hardy's speaker desperately wants some kind of god, even a hateful one, to make the sense of their existence, but can't bring themselves to actually believe in such a power.
The Victorian period more generally was one of technological innovation and expansion, with the British Empire spreading and tightening its hold on the entire globe. England was at the height of its power and prosperity, but this was also a world of deep divisions between the rich and the poor, the upper classes and the lower classes, and men and women.
-
More “Hap” Resources
-
External Resources
-
A Reading of the Poem — The poem out loud, read by YouTube reader Tom O'Bedlam.
-
The Hardy Society — Check out a wide range of resources provided by the society set up in Hardy's honor.
-
Thomas Hardy Documentary — Watch a BBC documentary about Hardy's life and works.
-
Victorian Pessimism — The British podcast "In Our Time" discusses the general atmosphere of pessimism in which Hardy was writing.
-
-
LitCharts on Other Poems by Thomas Hardy
-
