Neutral Tones By Thomas Hardy Flashcards
Compare poem to
When we two parted OR Winter swans
Key themes
Death of love, regret, loss ,memory, nature,distance
“ the sun was white, as though chidden of god”
Imagines that god has scolded the sun,adds to bleak mood
“White” the sun is drained of warmth and colour-reflects the love being drained
Your eyes on me were as eyes that rive
Over tedious riddles of years ago”
“Eyes” usually positive connotation yet here it is negative
“Rove” And “over” enjambment mimics her eyes move over his face. The words look and sound the same, which reflects her boredom
Effect of game imagery
Love should be fun and playful yet theirs became “tedious” and they “lost”
“The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing”
Oxymoron-smile shouldn’t be dead.
Emphasises her complete lack of feeling towards him
“Like an ominous bird a-wing…”
Ellipsis represents the time when the relationship came to an end
Imagery of a bird flying away suggests the end of their relationship
“God- crust sun”
The “t” in “crust” is a harsher sound than “chidden” in the 1st stanza-this hints that narrator has become bitter over time
“And a pond edged with greyish leaves”
The leaves are grey-suggests rotting-their love has decayed
Repetition of colour from the first stanza emphasises the decay
Poem begins and ends by the pond-memory of the day effects him
How is language of suffering presented in the poem
Narrator feels strong emotions about the day by the pond
Uses language associated with pain, death and punishment
How is language of lifelessness presented in the poem
The “neutral” tone shows the lack of love between the narrator and his lover, and the pessimistic way the narrator now feels about love in general
The death of their love and lack of hope is reflected in the landscape-bleak
Does the narrator blame his lover for the end of their relationship?
“Deadest thing”suggests that she didn’t put any life into the relationship which resulted in the death of it
What is the poem about
Narrator remembers a day when he and his lover stood by a pond. It’s an unpleasant memory
He believes his lover found him boring and had fallen out of love
Constant reminder of the pond
