Neutral Tones (love) Flashcards
(16 cards)
What has happened to the relationship within NT?
Neutral Tones focuses on an earlier, failed relationship. Within the poem the relationship had stagnated.
How does the poet reflect how the relationship had stagnated within NT?
Reflected by the stillness and lack of vitality in the winter setting
What kind or Rhyming Scheme does NT have and what does it show?
-Regular ABBA
-shows dullness and monotonous nature of the relationship
-speaker takes solace in the regularity to process his difficult emotions
What does the cyclical Structure (starts and end by a pond) show in NT?
Shows the poet is repeatedly hurt by love and that this memory still haunts him
What speech style are the quatrains in NT and what does this show?
Tetrameter= faster pace than iambic pentameter contrasts stagnant atmosphere.
This contrast reflects how the speaker and his lover are out of sync and disjointed
Is NT autobiographical?
Yes it’s written in direct address
What Method is used to portray the coldness and stagnation within the relationship using the stillness of winter in NT?
Pathetic Fallacy
What is the tone of NT?
Pessimistic
Bitter
Sorrowful
Monotonous
What imagery is used during stanza two of NT?
Game imagery to show how love is supposed to be playful
What quotation in NT uses pathetic fallacy to show how all life, colour and warmth are absent from the sun much like in the relationship?
‘The sun was white as if chidden of God’
What word is significant for showing the speaker is stuck in the past within the quote ‘the sun was white as if chidden of god’ from NT?
The word Chidden= old fashioned word reflects how the speaker is stuck in the past
Which quotation in NT features and oxymorons to display the couples incompatibility and boredom?
‘The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing alive enough to have to the strength to die’
What is a quotation that perfectly encapsulates the speakers pessimistic views on love?
‘The keen lesson that love deceives’
What quotation mirrors ‘the sun was white as if chidden of God’ in NT?
‘The god curst sun’ mirrors stanza 1 but harsher shows the speaker has grown more bitter over time
What quotation in NT uses death and colour imagery to show the decaying relationship?
‘A pond edged with greyish leaves’
