Hap
by Thomas Hardy
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See Also
- Thomas Hardy (Critical Survey of Drama, Second Revised Edition)
- Thomas Hardy (Critical Survey of Poetry: British, Irish, & Commonwealth Poets)
- Thomas Hardy (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- Thomas Hardy (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
- Thomas Hardy (Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition)
- Thomas Hardy (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- 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.
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.)
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