"During Wind And Rain", "The Voice", "At Castle Boterel" make a detailed analysis of the three poems comparing their message.

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Pre 1914 Poetry Thomas Hardy; “During Wind And Rain”, “The Voice”

“At Castle Boterel”

Make A Detailed Analysis Of The Three Poems Comparing Their Message, Mood and Language and State Precisely What Are The Insights That Each Gives Into The

Social, Cultural And Historical Background Of The Time

Rebecca Simpson

This essay will be about three poems written by Thomas Hardy, the poems were all written in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and were written at the end of Thomas Hardy’s life. The poems all go together quite well because they have the same sort of themes running through them. These poems al all very sad and have a Melancholy feel about them. They also look back to try and remember the happier times and try to forget the bad things that are going one now. None of these poems suggest a feel good factor, they suggest that his life is nearly over both in theses poems and also in real life they are too quiet depressing. Thomas Hardy was quiet obviously going through bad time when he wrote these poems and are reflection his emotion and mood very well. The poems show a great insight into their social, cultural and historical background, I think that Hardy wasn’t trying to tell us things, but showing us what it was like for him in the time he lived. He was giving us a glimpse of what the pats was like, All of these poems are showing that the way people are lining now is are different to what people were living like back then.

The first poem “During Wind And Rain” has shown us that families did stuff together, unlike what we do today. E.G it says “They change to a high new house”, this gives us the impression that they were very laid back about moving house. Where as today, moving house is meant to be one of the most stressful moments in any ones life. It also mentions, “With candles mooning each face”, this shows that in them days they used candles to light up houses, but nowadays we use electricity. And another quotation says; “They are blithely breakfasting all ”, this ...

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The second poem “The Voice” shows that in the past they had a great deal of obsession with the supernatural and his poem “The Voice” has a supernatural content. As the poem is about a women calling from the dead “Can it be you that I hear?” it also has a very eerie feel about it too, for example, “ Wind oozing this” and “heard no more”

The third poem “At Castle Boterel” it is remembering a place and a woman. Remembering the happier times, but he has to leave, so this poem goes from very happy to a sad ending. It is as if he had to go back in time to this place before he died. The poem has both from the past thoughts and feeling and then the same but in the future, the feelings the feels now are to mix in with the emotions he had then.

All of these poems have a similar message. The messages between them are, that the happier times have been and gone and the time is cruel and unstopping. So there is nothing that we can do to prevent it. Like getting older and doing things around us that would change us. I think they all have the same message as they were all writing towards the end of Thomas Hardy’s life and he was putting his emotions into the poems.

I think that the most effective poem out of the three is “During Wind And Rain”, because it really shows how much our lives have changed and it is more melancholy than the other two poems in its own way. Because it remembers a happy time then reality hits and he remembers that they are just memories.