Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928 / Dorchester / England)

How great my grief, my joys how few,
Since first it was my fate to know thee!

Two very powerful declarative lines, outline a life which becomes mainly 'slow years' of intense sorrow, with few respites of joy, after a meeting of ill omen. The moral seems to be choose acquaintances and friends wisely and think carefully, before making life altering choices, because some options have devastating consequences. These sentiments are delightfully expressed in a revealing way.
This is a cleverly written poem crafted to a rigid requisite. The triolet must be written with eight lines rhyming in an exact rhyme scheme of abaaabab. The first, fourth, and seventh lines must be exactly the same, and the second and eighth lines. Thomas Hardy has written an interesting triolet, which laments the haunting memory of an error of judgement.

Brings forth the point, we meet people who impact our lives sometimes, beyond our comprehension and emotional control.

Pruchnicki is right of course. The poem is a perfectly executed triolet and as such is too playful a vehicle for the expression of real grief. Knowing something of Hardy's life and work, and even more of the Wessex temperament to which I am heir, it is not surprising that sorrow is an undertone in the poem but there is nothing of the raw emotion which characterises real grief. There is something else going on here. I sense Hardy's tongue well and truly stuck in his cheek. I suspect he is sending up the sad and sentimental melancholia of the folk songs of his native county

this style of writing is close to pantoum or lyrics of a song. he could be just
singing a tune...hoping somebody listen.

By repetition he tells us about the intensity of his grief in life! A technique with some effect may make the matter more formidable than actual!

Does no one except me and Straw recognize a 'triolet'? It's not the reality of life, as Hardy indicates by naming the French verse form he's using - eight lines, the first two being repeated as the last two lines and the fourth recurring also as the fourth line. The poem is an exercise in prosody, don't you see? In fact, it's kind of a tease, the exaggeration implied in 'How Great My Grief'! The poem is not negative in the modern sense at all. Why don't some of you out there pick up a text on poetry once in a while and spare us your gaseous comments? Please do!

The reality of life, great poem..Mahdokt

Hardy is expressing a negative attitude simply because grief can only be negative.
This is truly a great poem.

Hardy is not promoting a negative attitude - he is simply stating his feelings. There are people we met who cause us great grief and little joy - that is a fact of life.

This promotes a negative attitude. It is an individual's burden to bear responsibility for their own joy and grief.