A Wife In London Flashcards
Who wrote a wife in London?
:
Thomas Hardy
What was Thomas Hardy like?
- Dorset born Novelist and poet of Victorian age
- felt Victorian society limited people’s happiness and lives
- opposed war
- features fate in a pot of his work
What is this poem about?
- the Boer War (October 1899 to May 1902)
- Between British forces and the two Boer States (in Southern Africa)
- around 22,000 soldiers killed
- telegrams used to transmit urgent news and normal news was by post
What does the title of ‘a wife in London’ show?
- indefinite article ‘a’ shows there are many more people in a similar situation and the wife is generic and symbolises all people in a similar position
- her identity is only her martial position - so poem is about her husband
- London shows it will be about an English husband
What’s the effect of splitting the poem in two?
- splitting the poem into two separate parts and giving them their own titles may represent the wife and the soldier separated from each other
- may show how her life is halved by his death
What does the first title of the first halve of the poem show?
- the tragedy
- shows foreboding and inevitability
- death is inescapable
What shows the wife is powerless?
‘Wife sits’
What kind of atmosphere of London is created int he first stanza?
- ‘tawny vapour’ = yellow fog that covers London
- ‘Webby fold on fold’ = entrapment = Hardy critising London?
How does the first stanza introduce the idea of death?
- ‘like a waning taper’ = fragility of life and untimeliness
- ‘the street light glimmers cold’ = show that her wife will never feel warm again
- ‘firelight flicker’ = 3rd stanza - same effect as waning taper
How is violence introduced in the second stanza?
‘Knock cracks’ = consonance makes it harsh - like solider’s dead
What foreshadowing sad news will come?
‘Flashed news’ = telegram - for serious news
- flash = unexpected
What shows the wife’s shock?
‘Of meaning it dazes to understand’ - unusual wording - confusion
‘He - has fallen- in the far south land…’- dashes mimic telegram and slow the pace down, euphemistic language shows the wife can’t accept the news and ellipses show she can’t read the rest of the telegram = raw emotional state
What is the effect of the second halve of the poem?
- The irony
- intriguing and shows a shift in the poem
How is pathetic fallacy used in the 3rd stanza?
- ‘fog hangs thicker’ = could relate to grief and depression - wife’s feelings
How has the euphemistic idea of death changed in the 3rd stanza!
‘Whom the worm now knows’
- blunt language shows that we can’t deny the truth and her husband can’t be brought back
