Neutral Tones (P)

Question 1

Exposition

“We stood by a pond that winter day”; “sun was white”; “starving sod”​

Answer 1

A01:
the narrator is describing his surroundings as he meets with a past lover by a pond

A02:
-Pathetic fallacy – ‘neutral tones’ of the winter day through muted colour imagery to foreshadow the bleak ending to the relationship; establishes desolate tone and sense of disappointment.​

-Personification “starving” – not only suggests deprivation of winter but also emphasises sense of suffering and loss – everything is dying all around him. Note how “starving” (present participle – sense that it is still happening) later becomes “deadest” which is much more extreme and permanent.​

-Sibilance reinforces the bleak tone: hushed hissing of resentment or thwarted hopes

A03:
the loss and desolation that becomes more obvious after a harsh separation

​

Question 2

Mid-Point

“The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing” ​

Answer 2

A01
The narrator describes his lover’s facial expressions and disinterest

A02
-unsettling oxymoron reflects the loss of love between the couple with the reference to death implying its permanence.
-the superlative “deadest” exaggerates just how meaningless and empty their connection now is.​

A03
the complete switch in character that happens when people break up

Question 3

Denouement

“pond edged with greyish leaves”​

Answer 3

A01
the narrator finishes with the same bleak outlook on his surroundings as the beginning of the poem

A02
Cyclical structure - suggests he has thought about this over and over again
-pathetic fallacy of the bleak/chilling/lifeless winter setting endures; the speaker cannot move past this; the leaves are ‘greyish’ as they are rotting – just like his outlook on love is decaying/tainted.​

A03
the type of cyclical thinking patterns that can happen after a breakup when you focus on the bad things