Thomas Hardy Poems

Plot:

• The speaker places their hand in a basin and recalls a waterfall that makes them think of their love.
• The 1st stanza describes the valley, the 2nd is reminiscing about memories spent there.
• The speaker recalls the picnic had there and that the lost a glass which they never found again.

Form:

•  Reminiscent of past times.
•  Unclear who the voice belongs to until the end- a woman
• Speech marks show that someone is talking to another person.
• Emma given a voice within the poem.

Stanza 1:

• A secret meeting at an inn is occurring between Hardy and Florence. 'Veiled' suggests secret and hidden.
• The hosts believe they have a romantic relationship.
• 'Strangers sought' suggests a colloquial journey, not strangers- a mask to hide the truth.

Stanza 2:

• 'Which quicks the world' humans are quick to fall in love
• Religious references used throughout- Hardy feeling guilty, against his religion.

Structure:

• Long and flowing like a waterfall- long letters.
• Length can represent how long ago the event was.
• Rhyming couplets- represent Emma and Hardy's relationship.
• Has Iambic Tetrameter- four stressed syllables, four unstressed syllables.

Language:

• Lots of sibilance- sounds like the waterfall.

Context:

• Written in 1914
• Written as an Eclogue- a classical poem about nature.

Stanza 3:

• When alone there is no romance- ironic as hosts believe there is romance between them.
• Death references- there relationship is dead/ relationship never alive.

 Stanza 4:

• Despite the host's thoughts, there relationship did not become romantic or physical.
• Love is personified in a negative way- 'love lingered numb'.

 Stanza 5:

• Hardy wants to gain their relationship back before they die.
• Can't have the relationship they want.
•  'Severing' violent word for separation

 Stanza 1:

• Introduces the topic of the poem- the Titanic.
•  'Deep from human vanity'- already sank and secluded.
• Vanity could also be Captain Smith's who refused to change the direction of the ship despite receiving six warnings.
• Smith often boasted of his safe record at sea- vanity.

 Stanza 2:

• Juxtaposes cold and hot- life and death- majestic ship and sinking ship
• 'Pyres' are used to burn bodies in funerals- emphasises death and loss.
• 'Rhythmic tidal'- calm and peaceful. Contrasts with the chaos on the ship.

Stanza 1:

• Addresses the dead Emma asking why she gave no warning of her death.
•  'Close your term'- cold and techniqual language.
• A coldness within their relationship- 'indifferent quite'

 Stanza 2:

•  'Saw morning harden upon the wall'- metaphor expresses the extent of their separation.
• 'Unmoved, unknowing' reinforces this.

 Stanza 3:

• Hardy imagines he sees her in familiar places, resentful language used- 'make me'.
• Rhyme and repetition shows bitterness.

Stanza 3:

• Compares the passengers of the ship with sea- worms.
• 'Dumb, indifferent'- voice of the poem resents the sea- worm, using harsh, bitter language.
• Mirror reflects the wealthy passengers initially, but now reflects the sea- worm as the ship has sunk.

 Stanza 4:

• Hints towards the speaker of the poem- 'joy designed' connotates a craftsman who worked aboard the ship.
• The jewels are now meaningless in the sea as there is no light to make them sparkle.

Stanza 4:

• Hardy recalls places they visited when they were in love- 'Beeny Crest'.
• 'Swan-Necked' shows Emma's beauty, the things Hardy fell in love with.
• Contrasts with the previous stanza's tone.

 Stanza 5:

• Describes the breakdown in their relationship.
• Regrets they did not reconcile before Emma's death.

 Stanza 6:

• 'Well, well!' sounds conversational.
• Pessimistic ending

Stanza 5:

•  Refers to the fish that now live in the Titanic.
• Personifies the fish- inquirers about the boat- they wonder why the boat is there, so out of place.
• Stanza 5 asks a question that stanza 6 answers.

 Stanza 6:

• Answers the question in stanza 5.
• The speaker talks about creating a beautiful ship. Destiny is mapped by the boat travelling through the water.

Stanza 1:

• Hardy imagines voice of Emma talking to him, when they were together.
• ' Call to me, call to me'- repetition is haunting, reinforces her death.

 Stanza 2:

•  'Can it be you that I hear?' contrasts to the previous line, where he can no longer see her. Reflects the distance between Hardy and Emma when she died.

Stanza 7:

• Explains the destiny of the Titanic. Hardy reveals the Titanic's mate is the iceberg and personifies the iceberg as sinister.
• Also shows the contrast between the iceberg and the ship, although they are meant to meet.

 Stanza 8:

• Parallels the iceberg and the Titanic.
• 'Smart ship'- ironic as the ship is not smart enough to avoid the iceberg.
• Refers to iceberg in negative context- describes it as 'shadowy silent'.

Stanza 3:

• Begins to doubt he can hear her.
• 'Listlessness/ wistlessness'- echoing and delicate, disappears like the ghost.

 Stanza 4:

• Lonely ending.
• Alliteration of 'f' shows Hardy's awkwardness, loses hope of seeing Emma.
• Landscape emphasises feelings
• Echo's the poems beginning

Stanza 9:

• It is destiny the ship and iceberg will meet, can’t predict when this will be.
• 'No mortal eye could see'- , a superior force knew the fate and created the fate of the iceberg and the Titanic.

 Stanza 10:

• Hardy personifies the term 'paths' which can be seen as giving the Titanic and the iceberg a life's destiny.

 Stanza 11:

• Hardy ends the poem by stating the two have met.
• The "hemispheres" refer to the battle of two sides. Nature won this battle and the Titanic rests at the bottom of the sea.

Stanza 1:

• Hardy is visiting places in Cornwall where he and Emma spent time.
• Begins like a story, told in the first person.
• Recalls a particular moment from that time.

 Stanza 2:

• Night falls as they walk.
• The dry weather is less depressing- reminds him of happier times in their relationship.
• Lots of details- vividly remembers this time.

Stanza 3:

• Whatever they said cannot be regretted or denied.

Stanza 1:

• The scene and atmosphere is set.
• In the second line we get very neutral monosyllabic words.
• The very dismal atmosphere is shown by the use of the alliteration creating a lazy tone.
• The sibilance creates a harsh sound.

  

 Stanza 2:

• Explores deeper into the nature of their relationship.
• The insignificance of their communication exposed through the tired and morbid undertone seen in lines such as 'And some words played between us to and fro'.

 Stanza 4:

• 'A time of such quality'- all that matters is that they spent time together.

 Stanza 5:

• Landscape is immortal like their relationship, both are enduring.

 Stanza 6:

•  Hardy tries to defy time; even though he is old his memory is still strong.
• 'Unflinching rigour'- reinforces personification of time.

 Stanza 7:

• Emma's ghost is shrinking away.
• Poem ends pessimistically- Hardy is old and dying.

Stanza 3:

• Describing her smile contains an oxymoron. Normally a facial gesture associated with happiness and joy, is described as 'the deadest thing'. This provokes strong emotion in the reader.
• A use of symbolism is the 'ominous bird a-wing', foreshadowing to the final stanza, representing his shattered trust.

 Stanza 4:

• The stanza is one of despair; this is done without breaking the neutral tone. The narrator  uses phrases like 'love deceives' indicating an inner pain
• The poem ends using neutral monosyllabic words. The change in the character becomes obvious, now referring to the sun as the 'God-curst sun' - emotions changing from sadness to anger.

Stanza 1:

• Hardy describes his death, relates it to nature.
• Emphasis on time.
• Delicate imagery.

  Stanza 2:

• Flight of the hawk and his own death expressed like this.

 Stanza 3:

• Wants to be remembered as someone who cared about nature.
• 'Nocturnal blackness'- soft tone.

Stanza 1:

• Establishes the tone and setting of the poem.
• The presence of frost tells readers it is winter, and ‘spectre-grey’ suggests a haunted landscape.
• Hardy uses ‘score' to create an ominous visual image.

 Stanza 2:

• The land becomes a map of everything that has happened over the last century.
• States that the century is dead (written 31st December 1900).
• Installs some of the techniques of poets from the Romantics.
•  ‘Spirit’ is referring to people as ghosts- consumed by death.

 Stanza 4:

• Steady rhythm.
• Sounds like an elegy.
• Hardy says he sees mysteries in nature.

   Stanza 5:

• Hardy will live on through memories of nature.

 Stanza 3:

• The speaker hears a happy song, contrasts from all of the death that they have been thinking about.
•  The song comes from the thrush.
• The frail bird is stuck in a storm- the speaker wonders how the bird can survive and sing in the storm.

 Stanza 4:

• The speaker is gathering momentum as they are distracted by the bird.
• They become confused as to how the bird can sing when the surroundings show death.
• Implicitly begins to question themselves.
• The last two lines bring in the new century.

Stanza 1:

• Written in the first person, voice of Emma, addressing the reader. Hardy doesn't know she is there. 'Hover and hover a few feet from him'- Closer in death than in life.
•  

Stanza 2:

• Contrast between what he hopes for and what is real. Hopeful he has been forgiven.

   Stanza 3:

• Still there as he visits places from the past. Hopes cannot be reality, only dreams.
• Reminded of Hardy's love of nature.

Stanza 4:

• Suggestion of forgiveness. Appeals to the reader.