He Never Expected Much
by Thomas Hardy
Stanza by Stanza
Stanza One
Well, World, you have kept faith with me,
Kept faith with me;
Upon the whole you have proved to be
Much as you said you were.
Since as a child I used to lie
Upon the leaze and watch the sky,
Never, I own, expected I
That life would all be fair.
-In the first stanza of ‘He Never Expected Much,’ the speaker begins by
addressing the “World.” He tells the world that throughout his life, everything
has turned out pretty much as he expected. The world has “proved to be /
Much as you said you were.” The speaker then reflects on their
childhood,when they used to lie down in a field and gaze at the sky. At that
time, he did not have any expectations of life being fair or easy. This highlights
the speaker's acceptance of life's challenges and unpredictability. These lines
convey a sense of appreciation for the world's consistency and an acceptance
of life's ups and downs.
- Analysis
The poet is saying, you don’t expect everything to go your way, you will
not be overly disappointed when this turns out to be the case. It is easy
enough to lie in the sun and daydream about one’s future, but a
mistake to expect the dreams to come true. We should be accept the ups
and downs of our life.
Stanza Two
‘Twas then you said, and since have said,
Times since have said,
In that mysterious voice you shed
From clouds and hills around:
“Many have loved me desperately,
Many with smooth serenity,
While some have shown contempt of me
Till they dropped underground.
-In these lines, the speaker is recalling a mysterious voice that they have heard
coming from the clouds and hills. According to the voice, many have loved the
world with desperation or with a serene acceptance, while others have shown
contempt for it until their death. This suggests that people have different ways of
relating to the world. The mention of those who show contempt for the world "till
they dropped underground" implies that their negative attitude towards life may
have ultimately led to their demise. Overall, these lines convey the idea that the
world can be viewed in different ways and that our attitude towards it can have
consequences.
The first lines of this stanza make use of some interesting repetitive elements.
Hardy uses “said” several times, building up the reader until it’s time for him to
reveal what the world said.
-Summary= Hardly recognizes that his life is only a tiny part of the world,
compared to everything else it is unimportant. Hardly imagined the world
speaking to him, using it as a means to show his own life and how others have
treated him as compared to the world in the first stanza.
Stanza Three
“I do not promise overmuch,
Child; overmuch;
Just neutral-tinted haps and such,”
You said to minds like mine.
Wise warning for your credit’s sake!
Which I for one failed not to take,
And hence could stem such strain and ache
As each year might assign.
In these lines, the world told the child that it couldn’t promise much. There will
be some moments of happiness but many more common, unremarkable
ones. The poet says that he knew the life’s cruelties and survived it all. He took
the world’s advice and learnt to deal with such things. He could take such
strain and ache. He “failed not to take” it, so throughout his life, he knew that
things wouldn’t always be fair. But, because he was prepared for it, he could
take it all in stride.
Repetition in all stanzas for the ending of the first two lines,to create an
echoing sound as if the world were a great booming voice, speaking to Hardy.
