Thomas Hardy takes a pessimistic look at the belief in God through his sonnet "Hap", expressing the sentiment that there is no supernatural being, good or bad, that human existence is ruled by blind chance. In the octave Hardy poses a wish for an evil higher power to blame his misfortune on, a reason for the day-to-day madness of tragedy that plagues life. Hardy uses the duality of life to give substance to his "vengeful god", stating, "thy love's loss is my hate's profiting". Hardy ends the octave by stating if there were a reason for the misfortunes he endured, he would be able to handle them, "Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I had willed and meted me the tears I shed."
             The sestet begins by immediately discrediting the octave with the simple statement "But not so." Again in keeping with the duality established by the octave Hardy states that "joy lies slain" and the best hope ever sown does not bloom. In bringing the focus away from the heavens, Hardy changes his metaphors to ones of earth tones, uses the ideas of death and blooming flowers. Hardy employs three oxymorons for his deliverances of fate; "Crass Casualty" a senseless and indiscriminant power over the laws of cause and effect, "dicing Time" a gambling force of nature that is consistent, and "purblind Doomsters" an officer of the court whose duty it is to deliver the doom, yet is slow in understanding. These three forces have scattered as much pain as bliss through out Hardy's life, and his sentiments on their validity play in to his title and firm belief that all is left completely up to chance.
             The structure of "Hap" is true to it's meaning, written in a loose Shakespearean style. The octave is made up of two traditional quatrains that follow an ABAB CDCD rhyme scheme, yet the sestet differs from the norm, opting away from a rh...