Neutral Tones - Hardy Flashcards
1
Q
What is Neutral Tones about?
A
- The speaker remembers the moment he realises that his wife was truly gone
- published in 1898 as part of Hardy’s collection of poems, “Wessex Poems.”
- The poem is a reflection on a failed love affair and explores the theme of emotional detachment and disillusionment.
2
Q
Imagery of Weather?
A
- Pathetic Fallacy Set in “winter” — sets the mood of the poem with the absence of life and vitality.
- Sun remarked as “white” — Lack of colour as the sun is deprived of its yellowness — of its ability to bring life
- Sun sent away as though “chidden of God” - pathetic fallacy, in which the natural world is used to reflect or mirror the emotions of the characters + the natural world is personified as having received a rebuke or disapproval from God —> God has expressed displeasure towards the natural world
- “They had fallen from an ash, and were grey” –> The idea of falling leaves is linked to the season of autumn –> which implies that their relationship is entering winter and warmth is leaving
3
Q
Death Imagery
A
Refers to death in an ominous mood
“Alive enough to have strength to die”
