The poem "Neutral Tones" (by Thomas Hardy) is written from a man point of view where as the poem "Absence" (by Elizabeth Jennings) is written from a woman's point of view.

This essay hasn't yet been marked by one of our teachers

You can view all our essays on Thomas Hardy that have been Marked by Teachers

The first 200 words of this essay...

The poem "Neutral Tones" (by Thomas Hardy) is written from a man point of view where as the poem "Absence" (by Elizabeth Jennings) is written from a woman's point of view. The two contrasting points of view give us a good knowledge as to what the end of a relationship feels like for a man and a woman but one of the poems may be more effective in getting the message that the writer intended to across. Thomas Hardy writes about the reasons why his relationship broke up and he reflects on the impact this had upon him. Elizabeth Jennings also looks at her emotional loss but is more concerned with the extent to which she has recovered from it.

The first verse in Neutral Tones is the scene setting:

"We stood by a pond that winter day,

And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,

And a few leaves lay on the starving sod,

-They had fallen from an ash, and were grey."

In this verse the Thomas Hardy tells us that it was a winter day, which are normally cold and dark,