Neutral Tones

Content:

·         Hardy is reflecting on his relationship with Emma - he is lacking in any emotion (apathy)

·         The speaker addresses an estranged lover and reminisces about a moment in the past which anticipated the demise of their relationship

·         The first three stanzas describe the incident, the fourth reflects on this incident and the nature of love

·         It is a sad and pessimistic poem that portrays love as painful and doomed

Key themes:

·         Bitterness towards love and failed relationship

·         Pathetic Fallacy - environment mirrors state of relationship

·           Pond is significant because conveys lack of movement from beginning to end, and that life is a cycle which cannot be stopped

·         Neutral tones - some irony since poem actually carries strong negative emotional appeal

·         Emphasises how Hardy came to feel about Emma - no emotion, lacking in passion

·         No colour = feeling between them is neutral, suggests colourless mood

·         Soothing but depressing language highlights sadness and emotions in narrator

·         Melancholic tone because narrator is reflecting

·         Colourless tone emphasises narrator's feeling of detachment despite being in first person

·         Paradox (a bit of irony as well I guess)- Hardy's use of paradox in stanza three reflects the pain of his emotions, conflicting ideas = love is fated to fail

·         Leaves strong impression on reader, enhances emotional turmoil

·         Cynical about love, bitter poem

Language analysis:

We stood by a pond that winter day                                                                                             And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,

 -Pond - water is still/ stagnant, like relationship. It also has a reflection, mirroring his reflection on the past.         …