Aspects of Narrative within Thomas Hardy poems - PLOT

If you study English Literature at AS level with AQA, then these revision cards will help most with Section B of the paper, where it will ask you to write about three texts in terms of a selected aspect of narrative. These revision cards show key points about each aspect of narrative from the Hardy poems: The Voice, Under the Waterfall, Convergence of the Twain, Neutral Tones and The Haunter.

This set focuses on Plot.

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Plot - The Voice

1st two stanzas - past tense and retrospective, showing he misses Emma by reminiscing.

2nd two stanzas - present tense, and he is uncertain about how he will deal with his grief, and life without Emma.

1 of 5

Plot - Under the Waterfall

A domestic situation turns into a memory, and the memory turns into a flashback. The poem is transcendent all the way through, completely different to his other poems.

2 of 5

Plot - The Haunter

First three stanzas depict grief, confusion and turmoil, but the last stanza provides closure for Emma and Hardy.

There are tones of guilt-tripping with slight digs of "my faithful phantom" - which is ironic because Hardy wasn't faithful to Emma.

3 of 5

Plot - Neutral Tones

The plot here is circular and pessimistic throughout.

There is negative language in each stanza, such as "starving sod", "tedious riddles", "deadest" and "deceives".

The resolve, or lesson here is one of a pessimistic nature, with a bold statement of "keen lesson that love deceives" and this summarises the whole plot and feelings.

4 of 5

Plot - Convergence of the Twain

Half of the stanzas in this poem are about the humans, and half are about nature, because they are battling each other.

Nature wins the battle, due to fate and destiny created by God.

5 of 5

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