A COMPARSION OF ‘AT CASTLE BOTEREL BY THOMAS HARDY AND ‘PIANO’ BY D.H LAWRENCE
The idea portrayed by ‘At Castle Boterel’ is very much to do with the speaker’s memory of a love he once shared with a girl, or possibly his wife. The scene of the poem is set very casually, using simple language. This language, however, has many ways in which it can be interpreted. The speaker has reached a ‘junction of lane and highway’, with a junction being a point of choice. The speaker may have to choice of which way to drive but also the choice of which direction to take in his life; he could return to the past or go to the future. Hardy uses pathetic fallacy in order to convey different atmospheres. He uses ‘drizzle [that] bedrenches the waggonette’ to bring across the fact that the speaker is miserable and that the mood of the poem at this point is dismal. This atmosphere is used during the parts of the poem that are in the present tense and that involve the speaker in his present life. Later on in the poem, however, this poetic technique is once again used. Contrasting its previous use, Hardy creates a loving and warm atmosphere in ‘dry March weather’. It becomes clear that the happy moments of the poem represent the speaker reminiscing of his love and what used to be.