How does Hardy portray the themes of loss and loneliness in his poems?

English GCSE Coursework – Pre 1914 Poetry

Introduction

From 1862 to 1867 Hardy worked for an architect in London and later continued to practice architecture, despite ill health, in Dorset. Meanwhile, he was writing poetry with little success. He then turned to novels as more salable, and by 1874 he was able to support himself by writing. This is also the year that Hardy married his first wife, Emma Gifford. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1912, which prompted Hardy to write his collection of poems called Veteris Vestigiae Flammae (Vestiges of an Old Flame). These poems are some of Hardy's finest and describe their meeting and his subsequent loss.

In this essay I am going analyse three poems and those three poems will be “The Voice”, “Neutral Tones” and “Where The Picnic Was”

Section 1 – Context

Thomas Hardy was writing around from 1870 and gave up novel writing in 1895 after receiving harsh criticism. In those times the laws were very different. For instance women could not vote at all which could have made a difference if they did vote. After Emma died – which was Hardy’s first wife he wrote poems that were for her or about her when they were married.

Section 2 – Content, Tone and Theme

The first poem is “The Voice”. The poem is about his wife, Emma and how he misses her deeply and every sound like the wind blowing reminds him of Emma’s voice. The tone of this poem is sad which reflects on what Hardy is feeling because this would mean that Hardy is sad as well. There is also pathetic fallacy used in this poem as well. There is also natural settings that echoes the mood of sadness and loneliness and this is an example of the main themes running through his poems which is loss and loneliness

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The second poem is titled “Neutral Tones”. This poem is about a different woman; the woman that he met before he meets Emma and this poem is describing the different woman. The first part of the title “Neutral” suggests that is neither one thing nor the other and “Tones” suggests that it is pale and blendes in with everything else. The tone of this poem is sad and depressed. This is suggesting that the winter is sad and pathetic fallacy is also used in the poem. The theme of this is love going wrong which is telling us that ...

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The third poem is titled “Where The Picnic Was”. This poem is about a picnic he use to go on with Emma. The poem shows that the area was secluded. The title of the poem suggests that it is happy, the season was spring or summer which meant that this would be happy also the picnic suggested that this place is for loved ones family or the person that you are in love with. The tone is poem is mixed, at first it is happy then moves to miserable, depressing and melancholy. The theme in this poem is that he remembers something that he use to do with Emma before she died. Also he uses the natural setting to echo his mood.

Section 3 Structure, Rhyme and Rhythm

On these three poems there structure, rhyme and rhythm are written differently.

In the first poem, which is “The Voice” has a simple structure and that is four lines per verse and four verses. The rhyme structure of this poem is ABAB. Some examples are: “listlessness”, “wistlessness”, “forward”, and “norward”. In this poem, Hardy picks out words to describe Emma and his own feelings. Furthermore in verse 2 there is a sort of a question and it’s supernatural. In verse 3, pathetic fallacy is used and in verse 4, which is the last verse there is irregular rhythm and shorter lines and this mirrors Hardy falling apart.

In the second poem, which is “Neutral Tones” has a simple structure, like “The Voice” but set out differently and that is four lines per verse and four verses. However the last line at every verse is indented. The rhyme structure for this poem is ABBA. Some examples are: “day”, “gray”, “god” and “sod”. In this poem Hardy is telling us that from the start of his relationship with this woman is starting to go wrong right from the start; and this shows that the love is sad and that this is not the woman for Hardy. This also shows that he is sad and depressed about his relationship.

In the third poem “Where The Picnic Was” the structure of this poem is quite complicating as the first two verses are the same and the third verse is longer than the other two verses. In the first and second verse there is nine lines and in the third verse there is twelve lines. At first the poem starts off happy, then gradually becomes very sad towards then ending and the ending of the poem itself. This is because at the ending of the poem Emma is dead, so basically this whole poem somewhat contrasts Emma’s life on a whole. The ending of each verse summarizes the verse itself.

Section 4 – Language and Imagery

The language and imagery that Hardy used in these three poems is powerful in it’s own way. In “The Voice” the natural settings echo mood of sadness and loneliness. Also there is alliteration and assonance used as well. For example “Wind oozing thing through the thorn from norward” this quote has an alliteration, which is the letter T, has used onomatopoeia, which is the word Wind and has used an assonance, which is the vowel O. Pathetic fallacy is a strong poetic device to use in a poem as it is using the weather to parallel the mood of the poem or poet.

One quote would be “Leaves around me falling” and this shows that Hardy is using seasons as metaphors; for example winter emphasises loss and death whilst summer emphasises happiness. Metaphors are also a good poetic device to use in a poem. The metaphor used in this poem is “Even to the original air-blue gown!”

Also Onomatopoeia is when the word sounds like the thing it is, however Hardy does not use this much in his poems, yet he uses repetition quite frequently in his poems; for example in “The Voice” … “Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me” This quote shows that Hardy is making the point clear and is also saying that Emma calling for him.

In “Neutral Tones” the natural setting for this poem is grey and lifeless, also Hardy uses the season as a metaphor still emphasising that winter is sad and dull. The overall tone and theme is sadness, depression and love going wrong. The alliteration is not used a lot in this poem, but there is one or two in the poem; for example “And wrings with wrong” and the letter for the alliteration is the letter W. In this poem, it is quite simple because it does not have a lot of poetic devices, such as personification, onomatopoeia and repetition. However pathetic fallacy is used in this poem once again emphasising that winter is sad. “We stood by a pond that winter day” this is showing that Hardy is using the season as a metaphor.

In this poem, which is “Where The Picnic Was”, is sort of complicating, as the structure of the poem is different. The natural setting of the poem is summer because usually a picnic is in the spring or summer. Also the use of this natural setting is echoing his mood. Furthermore the overall tone and theme of this poem is happy at first then gets miserable and depressing towards the end. The overall theme is something that he use to do with Emma before she died. The alliteration and assonance are used in this poem and these poetic devices are sometimes combined together in the same line, for example this quote from the poem shows both devices being used. “And scan and trace” as you can see from this quote the assonance is the letter A, and the alliteration is also the letter A.

The personification is also used in this poem but has not been used a lot. “And the sea breathes brine” this shows that the sea is breathing and this quote is a good example of an assonance as the letter for the assonance is the letter E. “Now a cold wind blows” “And the glass is gray” the first quote is a use of pathetic fallacy and the second quote is use of colour which is to echo Hardy’s mood. In this poem there are some poetic devices that are not used such as: metaphors, onomatopoeia and repetition.

The reason Hardy uses the themes of loss and loneliness is because of the death of his wife Emma. This makes Hardy write poems about her, for example what they use to do or describing her on how she made Hardy happy. My personal feelings on the poems we studied is that Hardy has used a lot of poetic devices to describe on Emma or on what they use to do together. I would find that “Where The Picnic Was” was the poem that I prefer because this is the only poem that has used most of the poetic devices and each ending of the verse summarizes the verse itself. Also the mood changes, from happy to sad, which contrasts Emma when she was alive and contrasts the death of Emma as well.