A Wife In London - Thomas Hardy Flashcards
‘Tawny’
‘She sits in the tawny vapour’
Pathetic fallacy shows how clouded her vision is of her husband’s status. She is isolated, trapped, confused and therefore is in constant worry
‘Glimmers cold’
‘The street-lamp glimmers cold’
Pathetic fallacy shows how she is cold because she is lost and lonely giving sense of hopelessness. Her coldness is personified as the lamps which give little light. It is as if her husband’s safe return is snatched away
‘Cracks’
‘A messenger’s knock cracks smartly’
Describes show the wife receives knowledge of her husband’s death. The abruptness of emotional impact is conveyed by the crack. She is shocked and dazed by the hit
‘Hangs thicker’
‘The fog hangs thicker’
She descends into a deeper depression continuing the previous metaphor of fog. Her sadness increases as she begins to understand her husband’s death. All light and glimmering hope have been snuffed out by the news
‘Fresh-firm’ ‘hoped return’
‘Fresh-firm-penned in highest feather’ ‘hoped return’
The alliteration invigorates the anticipation her husband held of home and the renewal of life with his wife. This juxtaposes the dark realisation from his wife that he is no longer returning. It is now a ‘hoped return’ and nothing more
