The poem surrounds the speaker, a man who feels that he loves a woman. However, she does not return his love and rejects him. Hardy emphasizes these feelings primarily through repetition. In lines one and eight, he repeats the phrase “You didn’t come” (Hardy, The Broken Appointment). He then starts again in lines nine and sixteen, this time repeating the phrase “You love me not” (Hardy, The Broken Appointment). While the repetition Hardy uses makes a point and emphasizes the speaker's feelings, Hardy's change of meter and cadence allows the repetition to have its full effect. He begins and ends each of the stanzas with short, repetitive four-syllable phrases. On the other hand, all the other lines in the poem have ten syllables each. By changing the meter and cadence, the reader can almost feel the speaker's heart breaking while reading. The repetition in the poem reinforces the hurt tone that the poem