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Neutral Tones- Thomas Hardy (Tone and Poetic Voice (1st person, Personal,…
Neutral Tones- Thomas Hardy
Structure
Enclosed rhyme scheme
Bs trapped between As
Relationship can' move on feels trapped
Repetitive
Quatrain 1 and 4 set in present moment pond mentioned in both
Quatrain 2 and 3 looking into the past
Semantic Field of suffering and misery
Dull colours mentioned in reference to title and his mood
White
Ash
Gray
Set in winter
Cold and dead
Symbolises couple's dead relationship
Antithesis
"Alive enough to have strength to die"
"The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing"
Drained of happiness
bored/neutral expression
Makes smile seem creepy or evil
Smile is the only thing left to lose
Tone and Poetic Voice
1st person
Personal
Intimate
Broken-Hearted
Detached
4th Quatrain
Melancholic
"Keen lessons that love deceives"
He has learnt from his mistakes
Mirrors his feelings
Let down by love
Had higher expectations
Thought they would be together forever but the opposite happened
"And wrings with wrong have shaped to me"
Long term, still affected
"God-curst sun"
Dimly lit and dull (Neutral)
Angry with God for no children
"And a pond edged with greyish leaves"
memories/pain fading
No escape from memories
More leaves in last line of poem than in first
Context
Thomas Hardy 1840-1928
Married Emma 1874
1894 divorced without children
published 1898
References to childhood................................
"Some words played between us to and fro"
Companionable
Youthful
Happier in earlier years, playful
Oxymoron
"A grin of bitterness"
Simile
"Like an ominous bird-a-wing