Thomas Hardy's philosophy involved a vengeful God, but he also bordered on atheism. Some of his poetry reflects his bleak view of the universe. In Hap, Hardy focuses on the idea that a "hostile fate" guides the universe (1072).
"If buy some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: 'Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love's loss is my hate profiting!'" (line 1- 4)
The speaker suggests that a "vengeful god" causes all of his pain and suffering (line 1). The god acts this way for his own enjoyment. The god would rather see it's creations suffer instead of caring for and bringing joy into it's creations' lives. The speaker accepts this idea saying, "then would I bear it, clench myself, and die, steeled by the sense of ire unmerited" (line 5-6). He is comfortable with the idea of an all powerful being causing his suffering. Then at least, he knows he cannot control the misery because his sorrows are just a sport for a God. However, the speaker changes his tone, "but not so" (line 9). He does not believe that a god exists to cause his pain. A god does not intervene or care about the misery of humanity. If there is a god at all, it does not care for the petty actions of human beings. This leaves the actions of humanity squarely upon the shoulders of humanity. They are responsible for their own happiness or sorrow. Therefore, a happy life is only possible through chance. A chance that a life is blessed with more blessings than sorrows, and that the person living that life is optimistic and able to see the good and not the pain.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteGood poem to analyze, although it appears that it gives you some trouble here. The phrase "If but" at the beginning of the poem indicates that Hardy does not believe, even at the beginning of the poem, that there is a vengeful god; he is just presenting a hypothetical situation. Nor does he claim at the end that man is responsible for his own fate; instead it is in the hands of "purblind doomsters" and, as the title suggests, randomness. We might have been born into a benevolent, just world, but as a result of happenstance and blind fate we are born instead into this world.
This poem gave me so much problems trying to analyze in fact, it was not chosen as a blog of mine, glad you attempted. Although this poem was a hypothetical situation, there are people that think this way. Which is probably why the narrator seems atheist.
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