neutral tones Flashcards
thomas hardy
NT - CONTEXT
- dissatisfaction of love as he was in his own in a stagnant, loveless marriage
- a victorian poet influenced by romanticism
- rejected religion
NT - CONTEXT - why did hardy write in the romantic poetry when he was in victorian time
- reflects how the speaker is stuck in the past and can’t move on (paired with archaec language)
- “chidden”
NT - what is the significance of the title
“neutral tones” - “neutral” suggests indifference, the two don’t care for each other and have fallen out of love
NT - LANGUAGE - how is pathetic fallacy used
- reflects neutral and uninterested speaker in the marriage and how their love is dead
NT - LANGUAGE - quotes to show pathetic fallacy
“we stood by a pond that winter day”
“and the sun was white”
“ grey”
NT - LANGUAGE - “winter day”
- winter has connotations of harsh and relentless
- winter also is the final season which relfects the end of the relationship like the final season of the relationship
NT - LANGUAGE - “white” “grey”
- bleak imagery
- lack of colour in landcape relfects the lack of life in their relaitonship
- “grey” is a neutral colour symbolic of indifference and lack of emotion
NT - LANGUAGE - how does the language change thorugh the poem - and what does this show
1st stanza
- “the sun was white as though chidden of god”
- describe the leaves as “grey”
last stanza
- “the god curst sun”
-“greyish leaves”
this shows
- language changes as speakers memory changes over time
-> everything veiwed subjectively by the speaker
NT - LANGUAGE - “and”
- connective
- relationship is stuck
- speaker feels angry by listing angry outbursts relecting his overwhelming hatred of being in a lovelss marriage
-> this contradicts the neutral theme and the bleak pathetic fallacy which is divoid of all feeling and represents remnants of his emotions
NT - LANGUAGE - use of archaic language
“chidden” , “curst” , “wrings”
- speaker is stuck in inescapable past
- stuck in loveless marriage
NT - LANGUAGE - “the deadest thing/ / alive enough to have strength to die”
- oxymoron
- this juxtopostition indicates how thier relationship is hopeless which causes poet speaker to feel defeated, hopelessness
- “deadest” - superlative -> have no feelings, dont’ belong together
NT - LANGUAGE - “and a grin of bitterness…like an ominous bird a-wing”
- oxymoron
- juxtoposition shows a contrast between the two lovers and how they aren’t suited for each other
NT - LANGUAGE - bleak imagery
“starving sod” , “chidden of god” , “ominous” , “tedious” , “fallen”
- devoid of all feeling
NT - STRUCTURE - cyclical structure
- no closure, fated to never leave the moment as he can’t escape the memories
- no progress made, stagnant
NT - STRUCTURE - temporal shift
- “since then…” -> last stanza
- horrible meories etched into his mind, inescapable
NT - STRUCTURE - tightly controlled stanzas and ryhme
- no progress made
-stagnant
NEUTRAL TONES - important quotes
- "”we stood by a pond that winter day”
- “and the sun was white”
- ” grey”
- “chidden of God”
- “and”
- “the god curst sun”
- “greyish leaves”
- “the deadest thing alive enough to have strength to die”
- “a grin of bitterness”
