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He Never Expected Much Summary & Analysis
by Thomas Hardy

He Never Expected Much Summary & Analysis
by Thomas Hardy

  • Intro
  • Summary
  • Themes
  • Line-by-Line
    Explanations
  • Poetic
    Devices
  • Vocabulary &
    References
  • Form, Meter, &
    Rhyme Scheme
  • Speaker
  • Setting
  • Context
  • Resources
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The Full Text of “He Never Expected Much”

[or]

A Consideration

[A reflection] On My Eighty-Sixth Birthday

1Well, World, you have kept faith with me,

2Kept faith with me;

3Upon the whole you have proved to be

4Much as you said you were.

5Since as a child I used to lie

6Upon the leaze and watch the sky,

7Never, I own, expected I

8That life would all be fair.

9'Twas then you said, and since have said,

10Times since have said,

11In that mysterious voice you shed

12From clouds and hills around:

13"Many have loved me desperately,

14Many with smooth serenity,

15While some have shown contempt of me

16Till they dropped underground.

17"I do not promise overmuch,

18Child; overmuch;

19Just neutral-tinted haps and such,"

20You said to minds like mine.

21Wise warning for your credit's sake!

22Which I for one failed not to take,

23And hence could stem such strain and ache

24As each year might assign.

  • “He Never Expected Much” Introduction

    • In Thomas Hardy's "He Never Expected Much," an 86-year-old speaker takes a sober look back at life. He feels that the world has lived up to the "promise" it seemed to offer in his youth, but only because it promised so little. Having "Never Expected Much," he's not disappointed; he always saw life as essentially random, so he's been able to cope with its "strain and ache." However, his ironic phrasing hints that his stoic realism may have limited his pleasure as well as his pain. The poem was published in Hardy's final, posthumous collection, Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres (1928).

  • “He Never Expected Much” Summary

    • Well, World, you've kept your promises, kept your promises. By and large, you've turned out to be pretty much what you claimed to be. Ever since childhood, when I'd lie back on leased land and stare at the sky, I have to admit I never thought life would be entirely fair.

      It was back then that you told me, as you've told me many times since, in that cryptic voice that seems to fall from the clouds and surrounding hills: "Many people have loved the world madly. Many have loved it peacefully. Some have despised it until they were buried."

      "I don't promise too much, kid—just impersonal, random happenstance, and that kind of thing," you told people like me. To your credit, that was a sage warning! I, for one, didn't manage to ignore it, so I was able to curb whatever stress and pain the years sent my way.

  • “He Never Expected Much” Themes

    • Theme Realism, Pessimism, and Acceptance

      Realism, Pessimism, and Acceptance

      "He Never Expected Much" considers the wisdom of not expecting too much out of life. The elderly speaker addresses the "World" in frank terms, admitting that it has met the low expectations it seemed to set from the start. The speaker then clarifies what the World has seemingly always "said" to him: that people may love or hate it for pleasing or disappointing them, but it doesn't promise anything beyond random happenstance. With subtle irony, the speaker says he "failed not to take" that warning—in other words, he did take it—and has therefore remained stoic in the face of life's troubles. Ultimately, the poem suggests that such sober realism is a wise approach to life, while also making clear that it's not the same thing as actual happiness.

      The speaker claims to have always expected that life wouldn't "all be fair," and he credits the "World" with meeting that expectation. In other words, looking back from the perspective of old age, he judges life to be as random and unfair as it seemed to him in childhood. He tells the World that it has lived up to its promises ("kept faith with me"), adding that "Upon the whole you have proved to be / Much as you said you were." Life hasn't bitterly disappointed him—although the qualifiers "Upon the whole" and "Much" suggest that he may have some hidden bitterness. Significantly, too, his lack of disappointment comes from his lack of initial hopes. The world turned out to be as harsh as it looked to start with, so his lack of disappointment isn't the same as satisfaction!

      Through his imagined dialogue with the "World," the speaker positions himself as a clear-eyed realist: someone who accepts life as it is rather than loving or hating it. He imagines the world telling him that many people have loved or hated it (as if it were a godlike entity), but that, in truth, it's governed by chance. It can only promise "neutral-tinted haps": random, neutral happenstance, rather than rewards or punishments.

      Thus, the speaker takes the world on its own terms rather than regarding it with "desperate[]" love or bitter "contempt." He even seems to reject an attitude of "seren[e]" love; he sees any kind of love for the world as irrational, because the world is random. Moreover, in summing up what the world has "said to minds like mine," he implies that his attitude isn't unique. Rather, he's taking one of a few major attitudes you can adopt toward life—optimistic idealism, angry cynicism, etc.

      The speaker believes his neutral, illusion-free stance is the wisest, but he also hints that it's not necessarily the most gratifying. By praising the world's "Wise warning" about its true nature, he implicitly praises his own wisdom in taking that warning. His phrasing is oddly ironic, however: he says he "failed not to take" the warning. He accepted the world as it really was, but that acceptance strikes him, on some level, as a failure. Though he takes pride in his wisdom, he seems to regret not being more idealistic or emotionally invested in life. Overall, his attitude hasn't brought him happiness; it's just helped lessen life's pain ("strain and ache"). In the end, then, the poem is even realistic about the limits of realism!

  • Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “He Never Expected Much”

    • Lines 1-4

      Well, World, you have kept faith with me,
      Kept faith with me;
      Upon the whole you have proved to be
      Much as you said you were.

      "He Never Expected Much" has a subtitle, which also serves as an introductory note:

      [or]
      A Consideration
      [A reflection] On My Eighty-Sixth Birthday

      The speaker of the poem, then, seems to be Thomas Hardy himself, taking his 86th birthday as an occasion to reflect on life.

      Lines 1-4 kick off the poem itself with an apostrophe. Addressing the "World" in general, the speaker acknowledges that it has "kept faith with [him]," or kept its promises to him. He adds that "Upon the whole" (that is, by and large), the world has turned out to be "Much as [it] said [it was]." It's as if he's going out of his way to stress that he's not bitter or disappointed.

      At the same time, there's something humorously colloquial and a little world-weary about that "Well." Its tone might be read as dryly ironic, as in a phrase like, "Well, what can I say." The word "faith" definitely turns out to be loaded with irony: the speaker goes on to clarify that the "World" has lived up to its promises only because it promised so little. Meanwhile, he "Never Expected Much," even as a child. In other words, he doesn't feel anything like traditional faith; he doesn't believe that any kind of god or deity has rewarded (or punished) him.

      The poem is highly musical from these first lines onward. The epizeuxis of "Kept faith with me, / Kept faith with me" sounds downright sing-song, and the first two lines of each subsequent stanza contain similar repetition. Strong alliteration ("Well, World"/"with"/"with") and assonance ("Well"/"kept"/"Kept"; "you"/"proved to") add musicality as well, both here and throughout the poem.

    • Lines 5-8

      Since as a child I used to lie
      Upon the leaze and watch the sky,
      Never, I own, expected I
      That life would all be fair.

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    • Lines 9-12

      'Twas then you said, and since have said,
      Times since have said,
      In that mysterious voice you shed
      From clouds and hills around:

    • Lines 13-16

      "Many have loved me desperately,
      Many with smooth serenity,
      While some have shown contempt of me
      Till they dropped underground.

    • Lines 17-20

      "I do not promise overmuch,
      Child; overmuch;
      Just neutral-tinted haps and such,"
      You said to minds like mine.

    • Lines 21-24

      Wise warning for your credit's sake!
      Which I for one failed not to take,
      And hence could stem such strain and ache
      As each year might assign.

  • “He Never Expected Much” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

    • Alliteration

      Alliteration adds to the poem's musicality, and it often reinforces its meaning as well. The poem begins with alliteration, in fact:

      Well, World, you have kept faith with me,
      Kept faith with me;

      The repeated /w/ sound heightens the emphasis on those first two stressed syllables—"Well, World"—drawing out the speaker's dryly ironic tone. That same sound then repeats twice in "with [...] with"; in fact, the whole phrase "kept faith with me" repeats (an example of the device epizeuxis). In general, the poem's alliteration is part of its pattern of intensive repetition, which adds to its song-like quality.

      For another example, listen to the swing of lines 9-10:

      'Twas then you said, and since have said,
      Times since have said,

      The insistent /s/ alliteration (sibilance), triple repetition of "said," and so on make these lines sound a lot like song lyrics. Poems don't usually repeat themselves to this extent, but songs often do.

      Sibilance appears in other lines as well. Soft, repeating /s/ sounds make the phrase "smooth serenity" (line 14) that much smoother to say aloud. By contrast, the three straight /s/ words in line 23 ("stem such strain") sound a little labored, in keeping with the description of "strain."

      Why the difference? For one thing, three words sound weightier than two; for another thing, two of the alliterative words in line 23 share a double consonant sound, /st/, rather than /s/ alone. Also, the two /st/ syllables are both accented by the meter ("stem such strain"), whereas only one /s/ syllable was accented in line 14 ("smooth serenity"). All these factors make the alliteration in line 23 sound slower, heavier, and more "strain[ed]."

    • Assonance

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    • Repetition

    • Apostrophe

    • Irony

  • “He Never Expected Much” 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.

    • Kept faith with
    • Leaze
    • Own
    • Fair
    • 'Twas
    • Shed
    • Serenity
    • Contempt
    • Underground
    • Overmuch
    • Neutral-tinted
    • Haps
    • For your credit's sake
    • Hence
    • Stem
    • Strain and ache
    • Assign
    Kept faith with

    • Kept promises to; dealt honestly with.

  • Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “He Never Expected Much”

    • Form

      The poem consists of three eight-line stanzas, or octaves, each of which follows the same pattern of meter and rhyme:

      • The rhyme scheme of each stanza is AAABCCCB, with the first two lines forming an identical rhyme. The rest of the rhymes are exact or nearly exact ("were" and "fair" in lines 4 and 8 make a slant rhyme).
      • The meter varies: lines 1, 3, and 5-7 of each stanza are iambic tetrameter; lines 4 and 8 are iambic trimeter; and line 2 is iambic dimeter.
      • This means that while all the lines generally follow a da-DUM, da-DUM rhythm, the second line of each stanza contains four syllables, the fourth and eighth lines contain six, and the rest contain eight. As in most metrical poems, there are occasional variations in the pattern.

      Overall, the form is song-like, one of many possible variations on the traditional ballad (a form traditionally set to music, and which Hardy used and varied often). The poem could be described as formally traditional, but with a couple of unusual wrinkles—characteristic of Hardy's tendency to mix "traditional" and "modern" poetic effects. (See the Context section of this guide for more.)

    • Meter

      The poem has an unusual, shifting meter. Lines 1, 3, and 5-7 of each stanza are set in iambic tetrameter (i.e., they generally follow a da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM rhythm); lines 4 and 8 are in iambic trimeter (da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM); and line 2 is in iambic dimeter (da-DUM, da-DUM).

      The shifting meter adds some swing to the rhythm, lightening the pessimistic subject matter ever so slightly. Listen to how this pattern plays out in the second stanza, for example:

      'Twas then | you said, | and since | have said,
      Times since | have said,
      In that | myster- | ious voice | you shed
      From clouds | and hills | around:
      "Many | have loved | me des- | perately,
      Many | with smooth | seren- | ity,
      While some | have shown | contempt | of me
      Till they | dropped un- | derground.

      Like most metrical poems, this one contains occasional rhythmic variations. Here, the first foot of the second line ("Times since") is a spondee (stressed-stressed) rather than an iamb (unstressed-stressed), while the first feet of the fifth and sixth lines ("Many"/"Many") are trochees (stressed-unstressed) rather than iambs. These are very common metrical substitutions. They help prevent the poem's rhythm from becoming too predictable.

    • Rhyme Scheme

      The rhyme scheme of each stanza is as follows:

      AAABCCCB

      The first, second, and third lines rhyme with each other (with the first two lines making an identical rhyme). The fourth line rhymes with the eighth; the fifth, sixth, and seventh lines rhyme with each other. Most of the poem's rhymes are exact (although "were"/"fair" in lines 4 and 8 is more of a slant rhyme).

      Like the shifting meter, this uncommon rhyme scheme shows off the poet's technical skills. It also places heightened emphasis on the B rhymes, because they're unique within their respective stanzas and because the triple A and C rhymes seem to build up to them. This effect lends line 16, for example ("Till they dropped underground"), an air of heavy finality—appropriate to a line about death.

  • “He Never Expected Much” Speaker

    • The poem's headnote ("[A reflection] On My Eighty-Sixth Birthday"), along with the "He" in the title, establishes that the speaker is an 86-year-old man. It also suggests that the speaker is the poet. Thomas Hardy did, in fact, write the poem about a year before his death at age 87.

      The speaker reflects on the "World" and judges that it has lived up to his expectations—because his expectations were so low. Lines 5-8 make clear that, even as a child, he was never a starry-eyed idealist; he never expected "That life would all be fair." As a result, he's not a disappointed cynic in his old age. He considers himself a clear-eyed realist who accepts the world as it is, rather than "lov[ing]" it or "show[ing] contempt" for it. He has to admit that the world has "kept faith with [him]"; that is, it's turned out to be pretty much the way it always appeared (neither just nor unjust but simply random).

      However, lines 21-22 inject a little ambiguity into the speaker's attitude. Oddly, the speaker says that he "failed not to take" the world's "warning" about its true nature. This convoluted phrasing suggests that his wisdom feels, on some level, like failure: it's taken the edge off the world's "strain and ache," but it may have cost him some happiness (or other kinds of emotional experience).

  • “He Never Expected Much” Setting

    • The poem doesn't have a clearly defined setting, though it makes a few references to the speaker's (former) physical environment. In lines 5-6, for example, the speaker recalls when "as a child I used to lie / Upon the leaze and watch the sky." The "leaze" (an archaic spelling of lease) refers to a piece of leased land. When he was young, then, the speaker would sometimes lie in a field, stare at the sky, and ponder the world around him.

      Both then and in "Times since," the world has seemed to speak to him in a "mysterious voice," reverberating "From clouds and hills around." In other words, the speaker's natural environment seems almost to be a living presence, addressing him in godlike tones. However, its message (that the world can only promise random "haps," or happenstance) doesn't sound like something the Judeo-Christian God would say; it conflicts with the prevailing religious ideas of the poet's era.

      In the broadest sense, the poem's setting is the "World"—it's a reflection on the nature of earthly existence. The poem is also set at a particular moment in time: the speaker's "Eighty-Sixth Birthday." Since the speaker appears to be the poet, the poem is likely set in 1926, the year Hardy turned 86.

  • Literary and Historical Context of “He Never Expected Much”

      Literary Context

      "He Never Expected Much" appears in Thomas Hardy's final collection, Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres, which was published posthumously in 1928. Hardy died at the age of 87, so it's fair to assume that he is the speaker of this poem and that the poem really is a reflection on the occasion of his "Eighty-Sixth Birthday." In his final years, he's looking back at his life and summing up his view of the world.

      As a retrospective piece, "He Never Expected Much" alludes to at least two of Hardy's previous poems. The phrase "neutral-tinted haps"—which describes the indifferent, chance workings of the universe—echoes the titles of Hardy's "Neutral Tones" and "Hap" (from Wessex Poems and Other Verses, 1898). The first of these juxtaposes a failing romance with an ominously "grayish" or "Neutral"-colored landscape. The second protests the sheer randomness of the world's suffering. These two poems share a fundamental pessimism with "He Never Expected Much," though their tone is more bitter. Both are from early in Hardy's career, so the later poem seems to show the elderly writer agreeing with his younger self.

      Hardy's literary career began in the 19th-century Victorian era and ended during the 20th-century modernist movement. This poem features conventional meter and rhyme, the tools that dominated pre-20th-century verse. Starting in the early 1900s, many English-language poets began loosening or abandoning meter and rhyme (i.e., writing in free verse), while using an increasingly indirect or fragmented style. These experimental techniques helped define what is now called "modernist" poetry. Though Hardy lived until 1928, however, his verse remained formally traditional throughout his career.

      His celebrated novels, such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, convey much the same philosophical pessimism as his poetry. His skeptical outlook influenced a number of 20th-century poets, including Robert Frost and Philip Larkin.

      Historical Context

      The poem doesn't make any historical references; it's framed as a timeless, universal reflection on the nature of existence. However, its anecdote about the "leaze"—an archaic word for a leased plot of land—suggests that the speaker's "child[hood]" probably took place before the 20th century. (Hardy grew up in 1840s and 1850s England, making him a man of the Victorian era, which lasted from 1837 to 1901.)

      The poem uses some other words and phrases (e.g.,"'Twas") that mark the author as a product of 19th-century literary culture. At the same time, his philosophical pessimism and religious skepticism—stances that made his work controversial in Victorian England—had a major impact on modernism.

      Modernist writers often wrestled with the growing secularization of Western society, the atheism of late 19th-century philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche (who proclaimed that "God is dead"), and the horrors of 20th-century warfare, which shook the faith of many who witnessed them. In its form and diction, then, "He Never Expected Much" reads like a quintessential Victorian poem. In its worldview, it reads more like a product of the decade in which it was written: the 1920s, when modernism peaked.

  • More “He Never Expected Much” Resources

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