A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy

Question 1

A Wife in London
Person?
Structure?
Rhyming?

Answer 1

3rd- observing suffering, woman is silenced
2 parts- contrast between grief and irony, reversed order of time
ABBAB pattern- inevitability, nothing can prevent fate, sing-song effect

Question 2

A Wife in London
Context?

Answer 2

Set in Victorian era, Second Boer War in South Africa
Hardy strongly opposed war

Question 3

A Wife in London
5 quotations

Answer 3

‘like a waning taper’
‘He-has fallen-in the far South Land…’
‘His hand, whom the worm now knows’
‘Fresh-firm-penned in highest feather’
‘new love that they would learn’

Question 4

A Wife in London
‘like a waning taper’

Answer 4

Simile, fading hope and light
Ominous language, overcoming darkness
Forebodes change of life

Question 5

A Wife in London
‘He-has fallen-in the far South Land…’

Answer 5

Euphemism- death brief, painless, shields widow from harsh truth
Romanticises place of war
Ellipsis- struggle to take in news, shock

Question 6

A Wife in London
‘His hand, whom the worm now knows’

Answer 6

Intimacy, reminder of love, human qualities
Contrast to previous euphemism, grotesque image of decay, food for insects

Question 7

A Wife in London
‘Fresh-firm-penned in highest feather’

Answer 7

Monosyllabic words, painful reminder of life
Labiodental alliteration with dashes, speaker in emotional state, pace, speed of thoughts increases
Superlative, irony of descibed joy

Question 8

A Wife in London
‘new love they would learn’

Answer 8

Tragic irony, end of rel, no chance to rekindle love
Modal verb, innocent determination
Heartbreaking ending, pathos, reinforces Hardy’s beliefs