he never expected much by Thomas Hardy with its alternative title of a consideration on my 86th birthday was written on the 2nd of June 1926 it was first published in the Daily Telegraph on the 19th of March 1928. two months after the poet's death and later appeared in his posthumously published collection winter words in various moods of meters Thomas Hardy had had a troubled marriage to his wife Emma Gifford not only did they not get on very well with one another but they were also unable to have children and they became increasingly isolated from one another as the years went on with Hardy indulging in affairs with other women it was only after Emma's death in 1912 that Hardy discovered a notebook entitled what I think of my husband in the Attic rooms where his wife had taken to spending more and more time and he spent the rest of his life and much of his poetry regretting the way he had treated her and the missed opportunities for happiness that they had had the poem is retrospective in approach as the speaker looks back and reflects that now he has reached the end of his life he cannot be angry with the world because from a child he understood that it promised him very little apart from random chance occurrences and as far as he is concerned it is kept up its side of the bargain the tone of the poem is quite sober suggesting that while it is true that the speaker has managed to avoid many of life's disappointments by not getting his hopes up too high he may also have inadvertently missed opportunities for happiness the overall feeling is one of a self-fulfilling prophecy with grudging acceptance of a life half-lived rather than of true contentment with Hardy accepting that he only has himself to blame home consists of three octaves or three stanzas of eight lines each Hardy was well known for experimenting with rhythm and this poem is no exception it Bears similarities to the traditional ballad form which contains alternating line lengths of eight and six syllables in this poem line lengths follow a pattern of 8 4 8 6 8 8 8 6 syllables in each octave although the third lines of the first two stanzas are hyper catalytic containing as they do nine syllables rather than eight the poem has an iambic bass meter where eight syllable lines are iambic tetrameter dum six syllable lines are iambic trimeter dumb and four syllable lines are iambic diameter foreign there are places where Hardy substitutes Iams for other metrical feet such as spondies dum-dum trokies Dumpty and anapists did a dumb in order to place emphasis on key words Hardy also uses repetition to create a rhythmic feel with each four-syllable second line echoing words and phrases from the first he also makes use of Enchantment and suzura in places to modulate the poem's Rhythm although the majority of lines are end-stopped the feeling of restraint which This lends to the poem is perhaps a reflection of the feeling of self-restraint with which the speaker professes to have lived his life the poem has a rhyme scheme of a a a a b c c b with the first two lines of each stanza an example of identical rhyme EG me me all Rhymes are single or masculine rhymes with the rhyme occurring on the final stressed syllable of the line the cumulative effect of three rhyming lines that are reigned in by a fourth line which is not completed by its own Rhyme until four lines later creates a sense of suppressed emotions and underlying tension which is in conflict with the acceptance that the poet professes at least superficially to feel the poet's diction is quite plain and simple and the majority of words are of one syllable Hardy appropriately makes use of Fairly pedestrian language to summarize what he feels to have been a somewhat pedestrian life employing little figurative language in the way of metaphor and simile although alliteration in places such as well World lie and leaves smooth serenity wise warning mind and mind and stem such strain and repetition of the word said which appears five times in total do give the poem a muted sense of musicality he never expected much takes the form of an apostrophe which is a literary device where the speaker addresses an entity that is not present either because they are dead or absent or because they are an inanimate object or an abstract idea here Hardy directly addresses a personified world and recreates the words which he imagines the world spoke to him first when he was young and indeed throughout his life even though the poem consists of the words that Hardy imagines the world spoke to him and the words he has in response it does not take the form of a dialogue the title he never expected much is blunt and sums up The Feelings which the poet Expresses in this poem note how Hardy refers to himself in the third person here while the perm itself is written in the first person this creates a sense of impersonality as though the poet is almost trying to distance himself from his own feelings the poem begins well world you have kept Faith with me the exclamation well is used in this context to indicate a pause when considering your words and suggests that Hardy is about to deliver some kind of a judgment his conclusion is that the world has remained loyal to him or has kept Faith with him note how he disrupts the Rhythm in the very first line substituting the first I am for a spondy dum dum well world you have kept Faith with me this emphasis is further enhanced by the alliteration of well and world the second Short Line kept Faith with me Echoes the final two feet of the first line and emphasizes his sense of certainty when read in the context of the title rather than creating the sense of positivity that loyalty normally inspires it instead creates a very somber tone he continues upon the whole you have proved to be much as you said you were here the verb said implies that the poet rather than learning this life lesson through experience has been communicated with by the world directly and explicitly in the second half of the first stanza he recalls that he has been aware since as a child when he used to lie upon the leaves and watch the sky that he never expected that life would all be fair the phrase I own here means I acknowledge and communicates his acceptance of the Downs as well as the ups that life throws at you there's a feeling here that even in childhood which is generally characterized as a time of Carefree optimism the leisurely lounging on the grass of the open ground or lease while presumably watching the birds and changing Cloud patterns in the sky did not Inspire Daydreams and a sense of infinite possibilities in the young Hardy as you would expect but instead led to him receiving the message that life would not all be fair the adjective Fair here should probably be taken to mean beautiful or lovely rather than just and suggest that from an early age the speaker was prepared for things to not always be sunshine and roses in the second stanza Hardy reveals that he underwent some kind of spiritual experience when out in nature where the world communicated with him on numerous occasions it was then you said and since have said time since have said in that mysterious voice you Shed from clouds and hills around the repetition of the word said here suggests that Hardy felt plagued by these thoughts which reinforced his low life expectations and kept him from hoping for more the verb shed which means to cast or give off is an interesting language choice and suggests the almost casual way that the world chooses to communicate implying Hardy's belief that there is no grand plan that the Universe has for every individual the second half of the stanza comprises the words that Hardy imagines the world spoke to him many have loved me desperately many with smooth Serenity while some have shown contempt of me till they dropped Underground here the world seems to argue that it does not treat individuals differently it is instead how each individual responds to what life throws at them which differs they either love it desperately or with smooth Serenity while some have even shown contempt or disrespect for it the adverb desperately communicates a love of extreme and overwhelming passion while the sibilant alliteration of smooth Serenity highlights the sense of Peace which this alternative kind of love creates note the anaphoric many here which begins lines 13 and 14. the word is trachaic dumbdi with the stress naturally falling on the first syllable I.E many which disrupts the rhythm of these two lines and adds a sense of weight to them however one approaches life though the end result is always the same as all will drop underground or be buried after death note how Hardy does not even attempt to euphemize death with this metaphor focusing on what happens to the bodily remains rather than on what happens to the spirit an approach that is in tune with the poem's overall plain speaking tone the verb drop suggesting a certain lack of Grace or care the final stanza continues I do not promise over much child over much just neutral tinted hats and such you said to Minds like mine note how hard he wants more disrupts the Rhythm substituting another I am done for a spondy dumb dumb in the first foot of the second line this in combination with the scizora after the first syllable which forces a pause creates a rather heavy and disjointed feel here the extent then of what the world promises is limited to neutral tinted hats and such this phrase meaning just random chance occurrences which are neither good nor bad once more the implication is that Hardy is aware that the world actually treats everyone the same and that it is the way in which you perceive and respond to Life's chance events that actually determines your experience of how good or bad they are in the final quatrain Hardy complements the world with the exclamation wise warning for your credit's sake the alliteration of wise warning emphasizing the certainty of his judgment communicated by the exclamation mark the warning is one which he failed not to take and hence could stem such strain and achers each year might assign Harley seems grateful at least that his cautious approach to what life throws at you has meant he has been able to stem such strain and ache or limit the pain and heartache that has been allocated to him each year note the sibilant alliteration of stems such strain which is picked up in the S sound in a sign in the final word of the poem and the assonance of strain and ache the soft sounds here bringing the poem to a very low key conclusion the reader is left feeling sad that Hardy spent most of his life and energy on perceived damage limitation rather than making the most of what he had thanks for watching if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer them don't forget to subscribe to my channel for more videos on English language topics and exam 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