Poem 5 - Thomas Hardy - Neutral Tones

Question 1

When was the poet alive?

Answer 1

1840-1928

Question 2

When was the poem written?

Answer 2

1867, published in 1898

Question 3

What is the poem about?

Answer 3

The narrator is recalling a day where he and his love stood by a pond, at the near end of their failing relationship, its likely from the description of her actions she got bored and left him. Whenever he gets hurt by love, he remembers the day by the pond.

Question 4

Describe the form of the poem.

Answer 4

The poem is written from the point of view of a man addressing his past lover. With an A,B,B,A rhyme scheme.

Question 5

Describe the structure of the poem.

Answer 5

The first 3 of the 4 stanzas follow a specific memory before a time jump to the final stanza where the narrator reflects on love in general. The poem ends where it began, with the pond, the cyclical structure shows how badly the breakup affected him, and that the breakups afterwards causes him to look back at it.

Question 6

Describe the use of language about suffering.

Answer 6

The narrator uses language associated with pain, death and punishment, showing how badly he was hurt by the breakup.

Question 7

How does the poet use language about lifelessness?

Answer 7

The neutral tone formed through the stillness and the greyness in the descriptions of the poem shows a lack of love between the narrator and his lover, showing his pessimism, which is reflected in the landscape, bleak, decaying and cold.

Question 8

Why has the writer used “stood” (Line 1)?

Answer 8

The lack of movement contributes to the lifeless atmosphere.

Question 9

How does the mention of “winter” (Line 1) reflect the narrator and his lover?

Answer 9

The two are emotionally cold to one another and reflects how their relationship froze to a halt.

Question 10

What is suggested by “the sun was white,” (Line 2)?

Answer 10

“White” has connotations as being a cold colour, it suggests that the warmth has drained from the sun, which reflects how the love in their relationship had also drained away.

Question 11

What does the poet suggest with “chidden of God” (Line 2)?

Answer 11

It is as though God had scolded the sun, this adds to the bleak mood, hinting at how the poet sees everything negatively.

Question 12

What is the significance of “a few leaves lay” (Line 3)?

Answer 12

The alliteration of ‘L’ emphasises the stillness in the scene, which further’s the bleak mood.

Question 13

What is the significance of “the starving sod;” (Line 3)?

Answer 13

The harsh sibilance shows the narrator’s suffering and emphasises the personification of the ground, which reflects their love-starved and dying relationship.

Question 14

What is the importance of “an ash,” (Line 4)?

Answer 14

This links to ashes from a fire, mimicking how their love had burnt out.

Question 15

What is the significance in the mention of “eyes” (Line 5)?

Answer 15

It subverts standard love poetry traditions, where eyes were a thing of beauty and positivity, whereas here they are shown negatively and only bring the narrator pain.

Question 16

What is suggested by “rove// Over” (Lines 5 and 6)

Answer 16

The enjambment reflects how her eyes’ gaze moved over his face, the words are similar in how they look and sound which hints at the boredom she felt in being with him.

Question 17

What is the significance of “tedious riddles” (Line 6), “played” (Line 7) and “lost” (Line 8)?

Answer 17

The game imagery in stanza 2 subverts the expectations of playful love by contrasting it to the boredom present in the narrator’s relationship, their relationship became “tedious” and fell apart, they “lost”.

Question 18

What does “The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing” (Line 9) suggest?

Answer 18

The oxymoron suggests her complete lack of emotions for him, a smile shouldn’t be dead, which reinforces the neutral atmosphere.

Question 19

What is the significance of “Alive enough to have strength to die;” (Line 10)?

Answer 19

The juxtaposition shows the narrator’s bitterness towards the lover, it suggests that he blames her for the end of their relationship, in the same way she let her smile die, she may have also chosen to end their relationship.

Question 20

What is suggested by “ominous bird a-wing” (Line 12)?

Answer 20

The imagery of the bird flying away reflects her leaving him as the relationship ends.

Question 21

What is shown by the ellipsis in Line 12?

Answer 21

It represents a time shift between stanzas 3 and 4.

Question 22

What does “keen lessons” (Line 13) suggest about how the poet feels about the memory now that time has passed?

Answer 22

“keen” means sharp or strong, it’s possible that the lessons were painful for him, and he found it difficult to move on.

Question 23

What does “love deceives,” (Line 13) suggest about the poet’s opinions on love?

Answer 23

“deceives” shows he no longer trusts love and has become more pessimistic in his view of it.

Question 24

What effect does “wrings with wrong,” (Line 14) have on the reader?

Answer 24

The alliteration draws the reader’s focus in order to emphasise the pain and anguish he felt.

Question 25

What is suggested by “shaped to me// your face,” (Lines 14 and 15)?

Answer 25

That other experiences of deceitful love remind him of this incident by the pond, possibly because it was the first time he experienced it.

Question 26

What does “God-curst” (Line 15) suggest about how the narrator’s feelings have changed over time?

Answer 26

The “t” in “curst” is a harsher sound than “chidden” (Line 2) which hints that he has become more bitter with time.

Question 27

What is the effect of starting the last line with “And a pond” (Line 16)?

Answer 27

The is cyclical, it starts and ends with remembering the pond, which reflects the narrator’s inability to move on.

Question 28

What is suggested by the “greyish leaves.” (Line 16)?

Answer 28

The “greyish leaves” repeat how the leaves in stanza 1 were grey. They were grey because they had rotted, in the same way that the poet’s relationship had. Ending the poem this way emphasises this decay.