Poetry: A Wife In London

Question 1

Whys: 1

Answer 1

Hardy uses the poem to highlight the wide-reaching effects of war, particularly on overlooked
groups, like the wives made widows by war, for whom nothing can be said or done to
ameliorate their grief.

Question 2

Whys: 2

Answer 2

To condemn the futile squandering of young lives in war and lament their lost futures.