4. Another way of expressing how much she changed is by telling what was she to him. ´When you had changed from the one that was all to me.´ This line is very intense because he explains that she was all to him, she was his everything. But this is before becoming mentally ill, after becoming sick she changed, completely.
5. The author talks about both of them being together and doing things together, just being happy. ´But as at first, when our day was fair.´ This represents the nostalgia of that time. How good were those old days and how happy they were there. Also, when they had no problems like today, it was their time.
6. The author stars recreating moments and feeling that she is there. ´Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then, ´ This shows that Thomas Hardy was confused and had a bit of doubt. He is having a dialog with himself, asking. Also, the reader can see the regret and guilt of the author, trying to make his wife be here again.
7. Thomas Hardy remembers every moment that he spend with his wife and how beautiful it was at that time. ´Standing as when I drew near to the town.´ This quote shows how much he used to love her, how he was in love with her. How he would make an effort just to see her when they were courting, in love. Also, how he would wait for her, this shows the expectation about her.
8. The author expresses an closeness with his wife from the beginning which is dissolved technically at the end of the poem. ´... drew near ... ´ In this really short phrase you can see the closeness between the author and his now dead wife which was really noticeable at that time. Now that closeness is gone, is it dissolved with the time and all the problems that they had.
9. Thomas Hardy knows that her wife changed and she was not like she was before she became ill. ´Where you would wait for me: yes, I knew you then,´ This shows the fact that the author feels that he is not that close to her like he was before, that things have changed. She used to do something many times, now she does not. Also, the reader can notice the fact that the author is talking to himself because of the ´yes´, affirmation, and the excitement that he used to feel.
10. The author used to have a really great image of his wife and how beautiful she was back then. ´Even to the original air-blue gown! ´ The word gown refers to the wife dress. This represented how angelic she was, as well as her innocence but wearing it because of the colour. Also, the freshness of the young soul, which the colour also represents because of being very light.
11. Thomas Hardy gets to the point where he starts feeling her there and listening her voice. ´Or is it only the breeze, in its listlessness.´ He is starting to feel that she really is not there like he feels or maybe he is imagining it. Also, it represents the wind as the element, which is confusing him. By saying ´listlessness´ he is making us have an image of his wife without strength when she was ill and how she was, very weak, without strength.
12. The author stays with the idea, asking himself, talking with him about the possibility that she is really there or not, but convincing that she is more likely to be. ´Traveling across the wet mead to me here.´ The reader may think that this path is very confusing and hard to travel. It may represent the route that is making his wife traveling into the other world or it may be his illusion by just creating more obstacles between him and her.
13. Thomas Hardy recognizes that his wife was very ill, and she was changing, but he did not recognized it before it was too late and he would regret it. ´You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness,´ This quote represents how his wife disappeared without him noticing. ´Wan´ means weak or ill and ´wistlessness´ means inattentiveness. So, this means that he did not notice her disappearing until she was completely gone.
14. The author is starting to recognize that she is not actually there. Also, the optimism that you see at the beginning of the poem is not there anymore either. ´Heard no more again far or near?´ This represents that the author is done with hearing her voice and he cannot hear her either anymore. So, she is fading away with the time.
15. Thomas Hardy misses this voice eventually, because he felt complete with her presence, which he did not appreciate before. ´Thus I; faltering forward´ He felt that he was falling, he could not stand steal without her, he was losing sense. But he was eventually moving forward and recovering his lost.
16. The author actually confirms that she is falling without her, without hearing her voice, which is now gone. ´Leaves around me falling, ´ The reader can recognize that this is because of how much he needs her and misses her.
17. Thomas Hardy knows things are getting worse with time about his wife and how he cannot hear her anymore. ´Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward´ This means that the ´leaves´ were falling slowly, which from my point of view represents how things were slowly changing in his life. And that his life was taking different thorns in the way.
18. Eventually the voice, which the author missed so much, appeared. ´And the woman calling. ´This is the end of the poem, which is like the start but the reader can actually spot the difference. The author mentions this woman but now with a sense of anonymity, the feeling of change between how he used to know her and how he does not right now.
In conclusion, Thomas Hardy wrote The Voice to express his feelings towards his dead wife, as well as remembering every moment with her and how things started to change. How from the nostalgia in the beginning, it stopped being like that. Also, by the changes of feelings, like guilty, remorse and regret, by not being with her when she needed him.
