A Sunday Morning Tragedy

Question 1

Summary

Answer 1

In A Sunday Morning’s Tragedy a pregnant unmarried girl dies because her mother, seeking to avert a scandal, gives her a shepherd’s ‘remedy’ to effect abortion, an action which leads to the girl’s premature death. Her death is especially cruel since her lover has all the time planned to marry her, but his announcement comes too late.

Question 2

The title

Answer 2

‘Sunday’ is important because it is a reference to Christianity. This adds to the tragic timing of the poem as the girl should be at the church on this day but instead she is dead because of the church and it’s hypocritical values.
‘tragedy’ created a negative mood and foreshadows the tragic ending of the poem.

Question 3

Hardy and religion

Answer 3

• As an adult, Hardy encountered the challenges to dogmatic religious belief that were sweeping England, sparked by books such as Darwin’s Origin of Species and the new “higher criticism” of the Bible. Hardy slowly moved from the Christian teachings of his boyhood to become a thoughtful, questioning agnostic.
• This is not to say that Hardy abandoned his views on religion, instead, he “became an agnostic, [and] he remained emotionally involved with the Church.” Hardy’s greatest dispute was with the dogma or beliefs of the church.
• Hardy often criticises the church in his poetry and novels for it’s hypocrisy.

Question 4

Who is the narrator?

Answer 4

the mother

Question 5

‘alas for me’

Answer 5

Repetition - this exclamatory phrase is repeated throughout the poem to express the mother’s distress. She is pitying herself throughout the poem which encourages pathos.
Is the mother the tragic victim because she has lost her child?

Question 6

Themes

Answer 6

• Nature and pastoral
• Religion: the church and Christianity
• Society and gender
• fate and fortune