A Wife in London Flashcards
-How are the 2 stanzas in A wife in London seperated?
-The first stanza is called ‘The Tragedy’ and the 2nd is ‘The Irony’
-It is like two chapters in a tragic story, maybe her life has been split in half.
-Quotes in a Wife in London
-‘Tawny Vapour’
-‘Webby fold’
‘He-has fallen’
‘The fog hangs thicker’
‘New love that they would learn’
‘Tawny vapour’ ‘webby fold’
Ominous language, her whole world is covered in gloom.
-‘He- has fallen’
-Dashes represent her grief and inability to process the news of her husband’s death
-‘Fog hangs thicker’
Pathetic fallacy to imply grief is settling in
-‘New love that they would learn’
-Shows the irony that he was looking forward to their new life together. Heightens the tragedy and heartbreak of his death.
Contexti in a wife in london
-Thomas hardy was a novelist - so was a storyteller hence the two chapters
-The poem is probably related to the boer war. The use of ‘a wife’ implies that this grief is universal.
Structure in A wife in London
-The poem is divided into two events covering two days
-Clear rhyme scheme in each verse, creating a sense of inevitability to these tragic events.
-Hardy uses the present tense to create a sense that a story is unfolding in front of us, making it more dramatic
