Hap (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Hardy
- First Published: 1898
- Type of Work: 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.
The title suggests all the readily identifiable characteristics connoted by the word “hap” (used as a noun until early in the twentieth century). The word itself has nearly disappeared in modern English except as a clipped form of the verb “happen” (as in “It...
[The entire page is 1427 words long]
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