A broken appointment by thomas hardy (love as despair, love as loss) Flashcards
1
Q
Regular rhyme scheme (ABAB) encased by rhyming quadruplet split in half
A
“come…numb”–BCBC->”sum…come”
- represents natural split of relationships
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2
Q
repetition of “you did not come” “you love not me”
A
- represents an inescapability of fact
- circularity
- the voice can’t hide from the truth (torturous)
3
Q
“and marching time drew on, and wore me numb.”
A
- iambic pentameter imitates passing of regular time
- time personified in unromantic, military fashion mimicking the voices own numbness
4
Q
“Grieved I,”
A
- initial caesura brings the sum of his despair
- spondaic (2 stressed syllables) , drawn out
- syntactic inversion draws out tension here
5
Q
Enjambment mid section of stanzas
A
stanza 1 - outpour of anger/grief relating back to “you did not come”
stanza 2- only one “was it worth a little hour or more”
last line has many caesura, the impetus (anger) has changed to despair
6
Q
“a time torn man”
A
- doubles with previous image of time
- dentals in alliteration add to bitter tone
- dentals portray tick of time
7
Q
“you love not me.”
A
- syntactic inversion
- raises expectations but crushes them by “not me”
8
Q
“A broken appointment”
A
- formal cold connotations
- formality is broken
