Thomas Hardy- Hap

Hap

Context:

'Hap is an intersection between the 3 major lines in Hardy's thought:

• The philosophical strand --> theory about the nature of the cosmos - it is Time and Chance gambling
• The personal protest strand --> raising a cry for the individual against indifferent cosmic forces.
• The creative strand --> Hardy as the artist who uses language to combat the indifferent universe.

Hardy is responding to the Victorian (and personal) crisis of faith resulting from the failure of Christianity before science. Hardy is infulenced by Greek tragedy (Aeschylus) and Darwin's theories.

Themes:

• Indifference, coldness of the cosmos.
• The individual beaten down by the oppressive cosmic chaos (gambling by Time and Chance)
• Loss (love, life, order, meaning, faith.)

This poem at the head of the collection introduces us to the abiding themes of Hardy's corpus. (oeuvre…