At Castle Boterel

Question 1

Summary

Answer 1

“At Castle Boterel” is an elegy from “Poems 1912-13,” a sequence in which Thomas Hardy reflects on his years with his late wife Emma Gifford. In this poem, Hardy revisits a road they walked together early in their courtship, reminiscing on the beauty of the moment they shared and reckoning with the loss of the “girlish form” he loved.

Question 2

Themes

Answer 2

• grief
• regret
• loss
• memory

Question 3

Castle Boterel

Answer 3

Castle Boterel is another name for Boscastle, where Hardy and Emma met and fell in love. Thus, the title alludes to their relationship. The poem begins in the present, with Hardy revisiting the place many years later. (In real life, he did, in fact, return to Cornwall after her death to reflect on their relationship.)

Question 4

Tense

Answer 4

The shift from present tense to past tense, and back to present reflects Hardy’s flashback of the memory.

Question 5

“As I drive to the junction of lane and highway”

Answer 5

Begins in present tense - Hardy is revisiting Boscastle
‘junction’ presents a crossroad, both literally and metaphorically. He physically drive to a junction between roads but also metaphorically meets a cross roads emotionally as to whether he wants to mediate over past events or move forwards. Shows that Hardy is still grieving Emma’s death.

Question 6

“drive” “drizzle bedrenches”

Answer 6

consonance (dr) harsh sounding
creates a sombre atmosphere, appropriate to a poem of mourning
pathetic fallacy - the whether reflects Hardy’s mood at this time

Question 7

“In dry March weather”

Answer 7

Pathetic Fallacy continues
As Hardy enters the flashback, the weather changes and contrast the previous gloomy, sombre weather. Hardy is remember a happy memory from his and Emma’s relationship.

Question 8

stanza 2 - “we climb the road”
stanza 3 - “what we talked of Matters not much, now what it led - “

Answer 8

Could be a literal road or symbolic of their life journey
where the road “led” (the change in their relationship) “matters not much” because the memory was a positive one and that’s what he wants to remember.

Question 9

“It filled but a minute.”

Answer 9

“minute” could mean the literal minute that they spent together on the hill in his memory or it could be metaphorical for their entire time together, implying that it went to quickly. There is also a caesura here, which could reflect the end and how sudden it was.
Anagnorisis - Hardy is beginning to realise he did not make the most of their time together and perhaps his hamartia was not realising how little time they had left together.