Rhythm and rhyme

The poem “After a Journey” by Thomas Hardy is comprised of four stanzas with eight lines each. In each stanza, the rhyme scheme is ababcddc:

“Hereto I come to view a voiceless ghost;
Whither, O whither will its whim now draw me?
Up the cliff, down, till I'm lonely, lost,
And the unseen waters' ejaculations awe me.
Where you will next be there's no knowing,
Facing round about me everywhere,
With your nut-coloured hair,
And gray eyes, and rose-flush coming and going.” (ll. 1-8)

The regular rhyme adds to the musicality of the poem. Although it is a poem of sorrow and lament, it still comes across as very musical and cursive.

The number of syllables in the poem is not regular. This suggests  that Thomas Hardy wrote it according to his feelings, not necessarily according to a specific style or convention...