Neutral tones Anthology

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Neutral tones context

Written by thomas hardy 

novelist and poet

victorian writer

inspired by romanticism 

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The title point 1

Neutral implies having no strong features which suggests they have fallen so far out of love 

tones describes the natural setting of the poem

Hardy could be challenging the conventions of romantic poetry could be a flashback to romantisism or a challenge to it 

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Pathetic fallacy point 2

A change in pathetic fallacy "leaves were grey" now leaves are "grayish"

just like "sun as though chidden of god"similie now to "God curst sun"

goes from a similie to absoloute definition 

setting changes such as these are reflecting the speakers memory change over time 

Words such as "grey"=neutral colour symbolising the lack of emotion a hint from hardy nature is different 

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Pathetic fallacy point 3

"sun was white"this is a colourless monochromatic scheme which gives the reader a visual description 

But colours are bland reflecting the relationship Reflecting the poet being unable to move on as written in historic form

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point 4 Cyclical structure

The poem starts and ends with a 'pond'setting and portrays the speaker essentially ending up where he began and he doesnt want to move on as the 'pond'was 'a' pond and later described as 'the pond'conveying the only one 

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point 5 rhyme scheme

ABBa rhyme scheme and quatrain stanzas show a sense of closure for the speaker to get over break up 

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point 6 word analysis

'Chidden'is a 12 th century word that was outdated even when hardy was writing the poem this deliberate use of outdated language could convey how hes stuck in the past

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Point 7 oxymorons

"the deadest thing alive"is an oxymoron as the phrase like the couple make no sense this makes the reader question the background of the realtionship 

and the previous reference to lack of colour 'grey'doesnt represent lack of feelings but natures indiference but speaker isnt neutral and cannot escape 

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extra points to make

semantic field of nature and death

1st person persona means a biased account 

'and'repeated 11 times that may reflect his anger and consequently loss of control reflects a retrospective narrative 

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extra points to make

semantic field of nature and death

1st person persona means a biased account 

'and'repeated 11 times that may reflect his anger and consequently loss of control reflects a retrospective narrative 

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Comments

aprril23

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Accurate and detailed analysis, although brief with some typos. A good resource. 

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