Neutral Tones Flashcards
“the smile on your mouth was the deadest thing/ alive to have strength to die”
- juxtaposition between the harsh objectification of the features of the speaker’s past lover and the personification of natures aspects
- brutally dehumanises love interest reducing their smile into something that is inherently not an object to a mere ‘thing’ drained of life.
-makes him easily accept them - depersonalises him - if she was more alive it stops him from having power to dehumanise - power exchange - feeling powerless because of lost of lover and then regains power by objectifying and dehumanising.
context
Thomas Hardy despite writing not long after the Romantic Era, was known for his rejection of Romantic ideals, instead focusing more on victorian realism.
This involved the acknowledgment of life’s pitfalls and adversities, a prominent theme in any of his novels.
Hardy separated from his first wife, perhaps fuelling his cynical attitude towards relationships and making neutral tones in particular a lot more personal
“grey” leaves on a starving sod”
- this reinforces this idea that love deceives.
- lost love is made to fade into thee coming and going of natures processes.
“over tedious riddles years ago”
-underlying bitterness - made evident by the appearance of consonance within the poem. Sibilance creates a hissing sound amplifying this somewhat malicious tone.
- spitting words out of spite - relentless
- only way to alleviate his pain and make living feel better about love he lost.
“wrings with wrong”
-alludes to a state of turmoil, repetition of “I” indicating multiple attempts to wring out an object, ridding of fluids.
- emphasises the enux of this poem - the speaker drains himself trying to rid themselves of the memory of this non-forgotten figure. - monochromatic imagey
4 stanzas
= 4 seasons and their cyclical nature by a regular ABBA rhyme scheme - cold winter setting mirrors the bitterness
- POT - present is molding into past - the real concept of time as he is always mourning the loss of his lover.
- eccentuates life has to move on and headrtbreak doesnt prevent this
-Connection between emotion and nature = use of romanticism juxtaposes his nihilistic attitude - nature is full of vitality and warmth, life is futile, meaningless and has no purpose - contrast of romanticism and victorian realism.
and a grin of bitterness swept therby / like an ominous bird a-wing”
The adjective ‘swept” sheds light on the fleeting nature of the speaker’s distant mameory of their love.
Imagery involving nature here depicts the speaker’s view of a blue or memories, comparable to the seamless changes and constanct movment with the naturak world surroudning that which hmans have created.
“white” and “grayish” “ash”
- “grayish” = monotonous, wearisome environment,but the adjective “ash” when denoting a species of tree from which a lead has “fallem” induces a semnatic field of grief and lack of life.
- Monochormatic imagery - lifeless and drained = direct reflection of his view - proecting out what he is feeling internally because of his despair and heartbreak which results in bitterness and melancholy.
“In the last stanza of the poem, the verb “deceives” and the noun”leaves” imperfectly rhyme with the personal pronoun “me” and the noun “tree”
- It is intriguing that the noun “leaves” has a homonym in the verb “leaves” suggestive of a departure of the speaker from their romantic situation as well as a detachment from the life and colour of their memories
- dual meaning = leaving memories and leaving trauma behind as well as time passing by shown by the seasons and the shift in the shape and colour of the leaves.
- Imperfectly ryhme - were waiting for that full ryhme as well as how he is waiting to fully be over his lover aswell.
ABBA ryhme
- The regular rhyming of the syllables at the ends of the first and last lines of each stanza as well as the ryhming of the end syllables at the middle two lines represents the ongping cycle of nature - the idea that life doesn’t stop.
- represents the continuity of nature and heartbreak
Regular quatrains:
- this could represent the ongoing number of emotions, being love or hatred within relationships.
- it emphasises the inevitability of life continuing on despite these emotional hurdles, the regularity of the stanzas also emphasising the regularity of such emotions across individuals.
- 4 seasons - time is mercilessly going on despite the emotional hurdles.
- The mention of the “pond” amongst “grayish” “winter” scenery within the first and last lines of the poem not only underlines the title, “neutral Tones”, but is indicative of the cyclical passing f=of the four seasons and the processes of nature.
- Time is passing on, natural cylce but he is still fixated on the memories that are tainted from his past lover
Structure
- end stopping shown by a semi-colon at the end of the second life of every stanza and a full stop at the end of stanzas one, two and four, develops the idea of the continuation and regularity, but also introduces a tense and blunt undertone.
Finality - showing victorian realism, being very cynical towards the approach of love and is abrupt in how each stanza end alike to how abrupt how his love has ended. He is shedding light on how the true reality of love is and how it is not a romanticised ideal between two lovers and eternal but it is abrupt thorugh end stopping. - The end stopping visible following lines 3,6,, and 10 of the poem are reminsicent of the abrupt seizure of an intense relationhsip, shedding light on the bitter attitude that said lines intend to portray.
- reinforce the pessismism cycnicsm (victorian relaism) reinforced by the end stops.
When we two parted - Neutral Tones. - themes
Similar = loss of love
- Both poets reflect solemnly upon a past love interest.
- when we two parted - more melancholic and depairing tone however both have internal conflict and completely fixated on the memories that torment them from their past lovers.
Similar = memory
- A key feature of both poems in the power that the speakers’ memories have over their present lives, both reflecting upon the time with a lost love, feeling trapped by their tainted memories as life continues around them. pastt and present melds together 0 cant establish whether their loss of love is in the past or present as time continues to move on. - past present and future
differences
- Neutral Tones’ focuses on the power that the speaker’s memories have on how they view the world through nature.
- Byron places a lot more emphasis on the constant presence of the speaker’s lost love as a supernatural, ghostly figure - Byron is a romantic poet - supernatural - perhaps love is in another world or that it is not a tangible force he can feel but cant touch.
Form: compare
Neutral tones = ABBA rhyme scheme signifies the constant movement of nautre such as the passing of the four seasons.
When we two parted = the regular ABABCDCD ryhme scheme also gives the impression of life moving forwrds, despite the sorrow of the speaker.
Byron choosing to use accentual-syllabic rhythm which does not occur in neutral tones, reflecting the monochromatic, lifless scenery surrounding the speaker.- morunign loss of lover supernatural = emphasis
Hardy - doesnt do thi because evrything is full and lifeless he doesnt aim to place emphasis on anything because he doesnt have it within him - he lost his vitality and passion for life
