Thomas Hardy

OM (2 June 1840 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. While he regarded himself primarily as a poet who composed novels mainly for financial gain, he became and continues to be widely regarded for his novels, such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd. The bulk of his fictional works, initially published as serials in magazines, were set in the semi-fictional county of Wessex (based on the Dorchester region where he grew up) and explored tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his fifties, has come to be as well regarded as his novels and has had a significant influence over modern English poetry, especially after The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s cited Hardy as a major figure. Life Thomas Hardy was born at Higher Bockhampton, a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England. His father Thomas (d.1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder. His mother Jemima (d.1904) was well-read. She educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at age eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last's Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester. Here he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential.[1] However, a family of Hardy's social position lacked the means for a university education, and his formal education ended at the age of sixteen when he became apprenticed to James Hicks, a local architect.[2] Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862; there he enrolled as a student at King's College, London. He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. Hardy never felt at home in London. He was acutely conscious of class divisions and his social inferiority. However, he was interested in social reform and was familiar with the works of John Stuart Mill. He was also introduced to the works of Charles Fourier and Auguste Comte during this period by his Dorset friend, Horace Moule. Five years later, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset and decided to dedicate himself to writing. In 1870, while on an architectural mission to restore the parish church of St Juliot in Cornwall,[3] Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Lavinia Gifford, whom he married in 1874.[4][5] Although he later became estranged from his wife, her death in 1912 had a traumatic effect on him. After her death, Hardy made a trip to Cornwall to revisit places linked with their courtship, and his Poems 191213 reflect upon her passing. In 1914, Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale, who was 39 years his junior. However, he remained preoccupied with his first wife's death and tried to overcome his remorse by writing poetry.[6] Hardy became ill with pleurisy in December 1927 and died at Max Gate just after 9 pm on 11 January 1928, having dictated his final poem to his wife on his deathbed; the cause of death was cited, on his death certificate, as "cardiac syncope", with "old age" given as a contributory factor. His funeral was on 16 January at Westminster Abbey, and it proved a controversial occasion because Hardy and his family and friends had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. However, his executor, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, insisted that he be placed in the abbey's famous Poets' Corner. A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in Poets' Corner. Shortly after Hardy's death, the executors of his estate burnt his letters and notebooks. Twelve records survived, one of them containing notes and extracts of newspaper stories from the 1820s. Research into these provided insight into how Hardy kept track of them and how he used them in his later work. [7] In the year of his death Mrs Hardy published The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 18411891: compiled largely from

contemporary notes, letters, diaries, and biographical memoranda, as well as from oral information in conversations extending over many years.

Hardy's work was admired by many writers of a younger generation including D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. In his autobiography Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves recalls meeting Hardy in Dorset in the early 1920s. Hardy received him and his new wife warmly, and was encouraging about his work. In 1910, Hardy was awarded the Order of Merit. Hardy's cottage at Bockhampton and Max Gate in Dorchester are owned by the National Trust.

The Convergence of the Twain- Thomas Hardy The journey of the Titanic to the depths of a dark and mysterious ocean on its maiden voyage- is the epitome of all consuming love and the enactment of the phrase when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object as aptly illustrated by Thomas Hardy in his poem The Convergence of the Twain. Composed of eleven tercets with AAA rhyme schemes, the poem encapsulates the essence and uncontrollable power of the attraction between a human creation and superior forces- unfathomable by the human mind. The Titanic- the unsinkable ship once symbolized the genius of man and our aesthetic facilities, exemplifying our existence in Gods image. However, Hardy elaborates that the Titanics majestic downfall was, something beyond the control or realm of human understanding; that it was destiny. In every stanza of the poem, Hardy expertly weaves the past, present and future into a plait symbolizing the body of fate or a supernatural power. In the third stanza, Hardy describes the current condition of the ship on the seabed with slimy invertebrates crawling over its once glorious and greatly admired body Over the mirrorsthe sea worm crawls. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. But this work of art- conceived among human circles- was too great to be controlled by man alone. It was so great, that the gods themselves wanted to partake of it and a few days after she (the RMS Titanic) left shore, The Immanent WillPrepared a sinister mate and the rest is history. In a conceit used by Thomas Hardy, the ship and the sea are involved in a dance of fate and love, under the eyes of Fate, in which the presence of 2,206 passengers was unfortunate and ill timed but in the end- insignificant and inconsequential. Hence, there is no mention of the passengers in this poem about the sinking of the worlds greatest liner. In the tenth and eleventh stanzas, the plan of destiny is revealed. Keeping up with his typical style, Hardy in this poem emphasizes the role of divine will as he did in Far from the Madding Crowd. Alliteration is used often- cold currents, solitude of the sea, mirrors meant to highlight the fact that there was a rhyme and reason to the events- hailed as disastrous by the living world. However, Hardy also brings to light Titanics current miserable condition after her union with the sea. All her glory and even the sparkle of life- which she embodied, has long been extinguished and all their sparkles bleared and black and blind. The alliteration in this line invokes the image of a blubbering being as it swoons helplessly and directly into the welcoming arms of death, the light sucked from her eyes. The Titanic and the iceberg came from two different worlds, from different creators and were poles apart, thus No mortal eye could see/ The intimate welding of their later history, Here, line 27 overflows into stanza 10 keeping up with the enjambment in lines 18 and 19, capturing the awe-inspiring, fearful and utterly unpredictable energy of nature. Only time- that which waits for no man, equivalent to God himselfThe Spinner of the Years could mould their paths and thus in line 33, And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres. Even according to the laws of physics, the meeting of two polar opposites results in

complete and total annihilation, therefore the existence of two hemispheres at all times is a prerequisite for stability. Thomas Hardy's poem "The Convergence of the Twain" deals with the force of fate and man's destiny which man has no control over. Hardy uses the event of the Titanic to show the forces of fate that man cannot control his destiny. When I first read "The Convergence of the Twain", I thought it was a poem relating the loss of the Titanic and Hardy's personal feelings and views about the event. But Hardy's poem concerns human aspects of pride, vanity, man and nature, coincidence and the force of fate. The poem's event is well known and apparent but Hardy gives it a profound significance. The poem is written in simple narration without a speaker, unless Hardy is the speaker himself. The Titanic sank on her maiden voyage on April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. Hardy gives the poem a profound significance because of the impact left on man. In stanza eleven, line three, Hardy tells how the sinking of the Titanic "jars two hemispheres" - England and America. After the Titanic's sinking, the world was faced with the fact that they had been playing odds against fate and they could no longer ignore them. The poem begins by creating the scene of the Titanic at the bottom of the sea far from the "Pride of Life" and vanity that built her. He personifies the Titanic as "her" and "she", the way ships are referred to as women. Hardy used "Pride of Life" to mean technology. The latest and most modern marine equipment available went into the designing of the "unsinkable" Titanic. Hardy emphasized "Pride of Life" because of the overconfidence man had in his advancement in technology at the time. This overconfidence led to the deceptive believes that the Titanic was unsinkable thereby challenging fate and coincidence. Despite the status of the Titanic with all of her wealth and modern technology, she sits at the bottom of the sea. In stanza, two it talks about how her great steel chambers, which once burned with bright red fires, now, have the cold currents of the sea running through them. In stanza three Hardy continues to describe the fate of the Titanic. Here the mirrors are used to also describe the wealthy rich and affluent passengers aboard the Titanic as well. Now all that is reflected from her mirrors are sea-worms, which are indifferent to her finery. Moreover, the jewels that were meant to attract well-to-do passengers are now dimmed and gone. The glitter is no more. Stanza five is ironic in the sense that all of the "vaingloriousness" now lies at the bottom of the Atlantic, where only "sea-worms" can admire it. Hardy was a believer in the force of fate and once our destiny has been, prepared man cannot control his fate. Hardy shows this in stanza six that while man was "fashioning" the Titanic, fate was also making the Titanic's fate-the iceberg. "Immanent Will" is used in stanza six; line 3 as a personification of the force of fate. Hardy used the personification of the force of fate to emphasize it and human destiny which man is unable to control. Then in stanza 10, line 3 fate brings the two together as "one august event." In the last stanza, fate is personified as "The Spinner of the Years": and once fate says "Now!" it is your time, nothing can change it. Hardy makes clear the power of nature over man, fate and coincidence, and man's pride and vanity in his achievements. The first five stanzas relate man's vanity, pride, and overconfidence in the building of the Titanic. Because of this overconfidence in his achievements, man didn't take into account for fate and destiny, or nature. Hardy also showed how destiny is the same for all, regardless of status (which the Titanic was a status symbol, a symbol of modern technology). When the Titanic sank, it took with her all of the modern technology used to make her unsinkable, along with all of the wealthy passengers. Third class passengers, as well as the millionaires, all shared in the same fate. Once fate deals her cards the wealthy and the poor all experience the same fate, which is our human destiny. Death is a common factor in that it does not distinguish between rich and poor. Hardy's poem shows the tragedy of man's overconfidence. The builders of the Titanic were so confident in their ability that they completely ignored any provisions for safety. Hardy's poem ended in wisdom: Prepare ourselves for the forces of nature we cannot control and learn from our mistakes, not taking fate and coincidence for granted.

Published in 1915 Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) writes "The Convergence of the Twain" a poem about the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912. The title literally means the meeting of the two in this case the Iceberg and Titanic. Hardy has written his views in a poetical form like many poets today writing about a tragedy in their lifetime. Think of WW1 WW2, 9/11and poets and musicians use catastrophes as a vehicle to express their opinion and somehow to bring meaning to the chaos. This poem is critical. The basic theme of it is: Watch out pride comes before a fall. Each verse is rather like a concrete or shape poem where the shape of it looks in this case like a liner with two short lines sitting in the middle of the page above a third large line. Verses 1 -6 deal with the present state of the ship. The final (7-11) verses deal with the lead up to its destruction. The first stanza with its word "solitude" indicates how this supposedly wonderful ship is now alone. It was once full of life and now there is a quietness, referred to by "stilly couches she," Each verse has rhyming triplets such as "Pyres" "fires" and "Lyres" (stanza 2). The second stanza reminds of imminent death. The word "pyres" is like cremation and even the reference to "fires" serves as a warning that this poem won't be pleasant. In Verse 3 the reference to "sea worm crawls grotesque" isn't unlike the image of a coffin with worms crawling under the earth. Wealth is also explored. It is also like the Biblical idea of not being able to take riches with you when you die. The "mirrors" mentioned in verse 3 represent the vanity of the rich and yet the contrast is that now a "sea-worm crawls" over them not caring about his look. He is "indifferent." The following stanza 4 also continues with the theme of vanity. The expensive jewels that were so important are worthless. We are told how the jewels that now "Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind" For me this symbolizes the fact that possessions can't save you. The whole idea of putting faith in jewels is ludicrous. The word "blind" informs us about the shallowness of the people who bought them. When the jewels were purchased they may have seemed precious but the people were blind to assume the jewels were really worth happiness. Now the jewels are just rubbish under the ocean no good. Even the fish we are told in Stanza 5 wonder why there is all this "vainglorious down here" In Stanza 6-11 the narrator changes time. These verses are the narrator's interpretation of how it happened. It could either refer to fate or God mentioned as "The Imminent Will" but the whole disaster was planned from the formation of this marvelous ship. Perhaps these lines would have given hope to family who had lost loved ones. It was something out of man's control. Verses 7 refers to the iceberg being formed described as a "sinister mate" whilst verse 8 in contrast discusses how the ship growing in "stature, grace and hue". There is the difference between the "smart ship" and the iceberg which will cause disaster. Yet both will have equal importance in verse 10 because we are told they are "twin halves of one august event" They will be two halves of the tragedy. By the end of the poem in verse 11 we realize it is a master plan. Fate or God described as "The Spinner of the Years" Two hemispheres collide in various ways, two different entities making a tragic event that will be remembered in history. Two countries will be united in tragedy and there are two hemispheres between humanity and God.

Thomas Hardy was a prolific writer. Although he wrote short stories and novels, in my opinion it is his poems that are his most powerful pieces of work.

Neutral tones Thomas Hardy has left this poemfor his readers to interpret in many different angles and perspectives due to its \'Neutral Tones\'. Therefore, the idea of bringing together many interpreations as one could in fact bring the poem alive, as it is already seen \'dead\'. However, the fact that it is called Neutral Tones could perhaps suggest that Hardy was going through a point in his life where he felt a decline in everything. This is because he mentions love, religion, life and tries to signify that life itself is ongoing, and things come and go in life, but you have to accept it even though as hard as it may seem to accept, God has given us life , but to him it feels as if he sees life as dead. Another interpretation of this poem could also be that Hardy is referring to the afterlife, the Hereafter, because he was quite religious from a young age, and quite afew monotheistic religions beleive that life after death is ongoing, because your either in Heaven or Hell, but the life is forever, where this life is as if we are dead, and we are to wake up to the heareafter. This is evident in the last stanza, the last line \' And a Pond edged with Greyish leaves\', because it shows how death and the hereafter is inevitable, but it seems that Hardy is perhaps questioning God\'s reason for this, because the fact that he writes \'greyish\' portrays again the neutral vibe the poem gives us. Lastly, in the first stanza, Hardy writes \'the sun was white\', which lathough some could interpet as lifeless, could infact mean that when you stare at the sun, all you see is white light and it blinds your eye, and could refer again to destiny and the presence of God, and could show that this means there is an hereafter, in contrast to \'ash\' and \'grey\' because that shows the deadness and the shortness of this life, and the sun itself is circular, but we are blind to it in real;ity, because in pictures, the sun is round, but when we look at it is hard to tell the shape due to its blinding quality and iuts brightness...maybe that is the light of God....but Hardy could be questioning religion and God\'s test he gives to people in this life...

Neutral Tones suggests an exploration of the slow ending of relationship.Hardy is very accepting of the decline, yet also regretful. The emotional intensity of the poem doesn\'t come from any particularly emotive language, but in fact the lack of it, the detachment plaguing the speakers attitude seems to be the most shocking aspect of the poem. The poem semms to be preparing for an end through the weather (\"winter day\"), the setting (\"starving sod\"), the dull lexis choices (\"stood\", \"gray\") and the monotmous rhythm. The poem arguably gives the reader a sense of the spiraling nature of the relationship. The abba rhyme scheme ends each of the four stanzas on the same rhyme they started on. The words \"gray\", \"pond\" and \"God\" are repeated from the first stanza to the last stanza giving \'Neutral Tones\' a circlic quality. Hardy uses shocking meataphor and imagery to symbolises the decline of the described relationship. He desicribes her smile as \"the deadest thing/ alive enough to have the strength to die\" as if there is no way to defy the descent. The opening scene is drained of colour. No colour in his life, no love in his life.

i think this poem is influential in various ways and also ver emotive. Also i find the uderstanding of the peom very sophisticated

An alternative perspective on this poem could be that Neutral Tones is actually a poem about God and the loss of faith some people experinced as around this period Charles Darwin released his theory on natural evolution. The ash tree refered to in the first stanza could be seen as a representation of God as an ash tree\'s definition is that which is huge in size with especially strong roots which can be seen as a reflection of God. The leaves which lay on the ground around the ash could be humankind as we are the product of God as leaves are the product of a tree. In the second stanze \'over tedious riddles of years ago\' could be the biblical teachings collected in the bible and also Jesus\' preachings himself. But the fact that they are tedious sums up the fact that mankind has had anough of being lied to and manipulated by religion. In the third stanza Hardy writes \'alive anough to have strength to die\' which is in my opinion a perfect description of the

sacrifice Jesus made for mankind but then the fact that Hardy says \'a grin of bitterness\' twists the sacrifice and makes the reader wonder whether to wasnt just all an act/ facade. Finally the last stanza refers to \'keen lessons that love decieves\' perhaps saying that Man should look closer at religion as it might not be what we actaully thought it was. I prefer this reading to the typical more common reading that the poem is about the breakdown of a relationship and that the speaker is reminiscing the past which anticipated the demise of thier relationship.

Thomas Hardy s poem Neutral Tones, is an astounding inner conveyance of a relationship on the brink of fate, dramatizing the issues that two lovers face when love holds no more zest or familiarity. This poem is not by any means an expression of a fictional character, but rather a personal re-collection of the fallout that Thomas Hardy himself experiences. Though this is one of his earlier poems, he cleverly wields the addition of allusion, various themes, symbolism and strong imagery to effectively illustrate the lingering conflict. There is no definite claim as to who the woman featured in this early poem actually is. One of his favourite ploys was to prolong the reader s ignorance, not just of facts, but of identities. (Turner, 3) The relationship that the speaker alludes to, is thought to be that shared with Eliza Nicholls, a woman he re-united with when he was visiting London for the first time. The two initially met in 1863, and after a long period away from each other come to realize they have been estranged and brought to a point of bitterness. Projections of hostility, sorrowful regret and reminiscence resound throughout the poem, and are often present in his earlier poetic work. Within the poem there is a continual allusion to how the inconsistent communication between the couple led to Hardy s observational assumptions. Though the poem is rather neutral, it can be appraised for the fact that there is still a deep emotion existing, but at that time, lies lost somewhere between the two subjects. Winter and the lack of color in the world around them, especially in the first stanza, are also chosen as part of the setting because it truly reflects upon the cold and dull changes that their ever deteriorating love has presented. In Neutral Tones , A various mixture of iambs and anapaests builds a powerfully dulled monotone (Paulin, 71). The reader can almost hear the melodramatic voice of Hardy, with only slight hints of disgust and spite. Rather, the melancholy monologue carries on in a dull and withdrawn manner, only supporting the neutrality of the speaker. Hardy s association with various women throughout his life and the pain and joys he endured is without a doubt what drove him to his elevated status of poetic brilliance. Like most men, perhaps, he evidently needed some such relationship to stimulate his creativity (Turner, 3). This dramatic monologue consisting of four tetrameter quatrains expresses themes of love and life and their interconnection, while simultaneously emphasizing death. Hardy not only shows the flaws of his personal relationship with the woman by using various means of imagery, but also ends the poem with a defeated melancholic conclusion of his impression of love. In the first stanza, the poem begins with Thomas Hardy as the speaker and he makes no hesitance in establishing the scene to compliment the imagery which follows. We stood by a pond that winter day (1, 1). Though winter can be a wonderland, within the contexts of this poem, winter paints the bleak theme of death and season change. The poem carries on the same tone throughout, but the mood is inevitably altered from stanza to stanza. With winter comes the death of many living things in the natural world. Hardy signals this more and more as the poem goes on and makes a connection between the love a person has and how it affects their life. When a person feels no loving grace or the comfort of a heart in beat with his own, he tends to see the world through a warped lens. Hardy witnesses the sun as being white, as though chidden of God (1, 2). In this, the bitterness and tone that is emphasized throughout the poem is projected as guilt upon the Almighty. It seems Hardy feels that just as God could allow the sun to shine in its full splendorous yellow but has instead replaced it with a gloomy hue of white; his relationship with this woman is also cursed by a divine intervention. The tone is crucial in understanding it and is not hard to spot within the poem. The reserved tone supports the lack of passion that Hardy and the woman express. The leaves which had fallen from an ash, and were gray (1, 4), is symbolic of the way in which they too had fallen out of love. It is such a clever choice for Hardy to have included the ash tree within the poem. The bark of this tree is of a silvery-gray color, and indeed, the color of ashes themselves is gray, a decidedly \"neutral tone\" (Senior, 219). If the leaves are themselves symbolic of the couple then an image is painted of the two holding on to a life source that no longer has anything in store for them. They are seen as Clinging to the tree, the leaves have now withered and died, with no possible fate remaining other than to rot or be trampled underfoot (Senior, 218). The fact that in the line before he mentions the few

leaves lay on the starving sod (1, 3) leads the reader to believe that the season of love had long since been gone, and the two lovers had prolonged what should have been dead a long time ago. For it is well known, fall is the season in which most things initially die. At one time, the tree that blossomed and was bountiful in life supported the leaves that hung from its delicate branches, but now has been stripped of leaves. The paralleling connections between life and love are recognized here since the couple had once had the support of their environment (the tree) but now they have been broken off and the whole winter scene only emphasizes the imminent death. They had been withered for so long and yet been blind to it, but Hardy comes to terms in this first stanza when he concludes that the leaves were gray (1, 4). What is considerable to note is that the whole environment that Hardy creates is able to fuse with feeling (Paulin, 163) and thus makes the poem even more effective. In the second stanza the tone carries forward, but focuses less on the conditions of the nature around them and rather narrows down to the cold bitterness between them, particularly that of the woman. The statement, Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove (2, 5), expresses that it does not go unnoticed by Hardy that the woman looks him up and down with wandering eyes. It projects the image of her searching every part of him, looking for something that had once captivated her, but now she finds nothing of interest in him. Perhaps the way her eyes rove also reflects the shallowness of her sight since there is no reference to her ability to look into him. The next line discusses the lack of excitement that exists. Hardy seems to recognize the shade of ice that has built up in their midst and their inability to strike any spark inside each other to melt it. The image projected is that of a ...man and woman, searching for answers to riddles tedious because so often repeated, as their lips discuss the related question: which lost the more by our love (Clements & Grindle, 184). The phrase And some words played between us to and fro (2, 7), basically is understood as words spoken between them almost effortlessly were uttered as though in play. The mood of the line gives the reader reason to obtain the impression that the words spoken were shallow and had a scattered effect on their brain, as though they could no longer grip them in confidence. The amazing element about Hardy s poetry is that though for the most part this poem contains a simple rhyme scheme and even the words that rhyme are bland, he still manages to create a consistent and alluring interest in his readers. Hardy can produce effects of strangeness even from ordinary and unambiguous words. Sometimes he does this by inverted or syntactically peculiar phrases... (Clements & Grindle, 7). An example within Neutral Tones is when he reflects On which lost the more by our love (2, 8). This line seems to make little sense at first glance being

There is a common theme with Rushy Pond and Neutral Tones and knowing of the relationship break-up between Hardy and Tryphena Sparks both these poems fit the theme that these are two lovers set apart, basically by rules beyond their control, meeting at a special place in their relationship.

Hardy uses various methods to tell the story in Neutral Tones which is written in the form of a poem. Neutral Tones tells the story of disappointment in love and life between two lovers and focuses on a theme of death. The setting of the poem is on a winter day this is significantly important as Hardy uses this to convey a sense of sadness, the winter perhaps a metaphor for the frosty nature of the relationship. This negativity is emphasised because it appears so early in the poem; the first line. This sets a bitter tone for the first stanza which intensifies as the emotive language becomes more blatant. In the first stanza Hardy uses the word chidden, whereas curst is used for the same purpose in the final stanza which is an obvious shift between mild and harsh language. This perhaps shows Hardy losing his temper because of his emotional connection with the theme of the poem. Hardy uses the colour imagery of white which could suggest a lonely mood despite the two characters being in a relationship of sorts; this is because of how belligerent the characters are towards each other. Hardy uses just the one colour and only uses it once because of this the meaning is emphasised. Hardy uses an oxymoron in the first line of the third stanza, describing a smile, a facial gesture usually associated with happiness, as the deadest thing . This highlights the theme of death and also provokes emotion from the reader because of the casual manner the gesture is depicted in which reminds the reader of the poems bitterness. However, this oxymoronic metaphor continues after having left a strong impression on the reader; it is now described as only. Alive enough to have strength to die which

further illustrates Hardy s aggression. Hardy s use of this expressive language in the third stanza might have the objective of making the reader feel discouraged which is a possible destination emotionally. Structurally Neutral Tone is a short poem arraigned in four tetrameter quatrains. The four stanzas of the poem might relate to the four seasons of the year as there is a strong theme of nature throughout the poem. Also in the actual poem the correct line is \"over tedious riddles of years ago\" there is no mention of solving

'Neutral Tones' is exceedingly representitive of Thomas Hardy's emotions towards destiny and mental anguish. In the first stanza he relates to the sun (usually representing happiness and colour) as "the sun was white". This conveys the sun as a lifeless and depressing object. Perhaps it is a metaphor for himself before the death of his relationship. Also the sun and pond is circular, showing there is no escape and is going to be never ending. In the final stanza Hardy refers to the sun as "the God-curst sun". This portrays a change in emotions. His language changes to one of anger, rather than neutral and soothing. The reader here gets the feeling that his anger has a religious reference, implying that his loss is down to destiny ('god'). It portrays that god is perhaps cynical about love. Claire

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Basically the whole idea of the poem is that he is tuck in a circle of thought in which he has no escape. He cannot get the failed relationship out of his head and so it keeps repeating over and over.

Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy is like the title of the poem says very neutral; the melancholic tone of the poem is created by a narrator reflecting on a termination of a relationship. Throughout The poem a very soothing but at the same time depressing language is used to capture the image of this moment. The Poet uses a variety of techniques to highlight the sadness of the poem and to evaluate the feelings of the narrative voice. In the first stanza the scene is set, we stood by a pond that winter day , and the very language used reflects upon the atmosphere created by the words, no harsh sounds are used and the sentence is an epitome of the poem and the tranquility and yet at the same time disheartening feel that we get from the poem. In the second line we get even more of these very neutral monosyllabic words the sun was white, as though the chidden of god, in this sentence the poets attempt to stay within his own themes are very explicit by the use of the adjective white to describe the sun, the sun normally represented by the colour yellow and a symbol for happiness and life. The very dismal atmosphere is further reinforced by the use of the alliteration of L creating a sort of lazy but yet unsatisfying tone, the further sibilance used in starving sod creates a rather harsh sound that really ads another layer of hopelessness to the poem. The whole metaphor of the few leaves is used to symbolize the end of an era, almost hint towards the dying of life, in this case however it is not life that died but love. The next stanza talks more about the nature of their relationship, Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove over tedious riddles solved years ago. This can be interpreted to mean that the couple has the same fights over and over again and that there is no progress made, the insignificance of their communication is exposed by the extremely tired and morbid undertone we get in lines such as And some words played between us to and fro- , this really shows that there communication is flawed on a fundamental level making co-existence virtually impossible at least when talking about their relationship. The first line in the third stanza contains a very emotionally appealing oxymoron that really crushes your heart figuratively speaking, describing her smile , a facial gesture usually associated with happiness and joy, as the deadest thing . This really provokes emotion in the reader because the cold causality of the gesture reminds one of the bitterness of this poem. However this oxymoronic metaphor continues after already having left a strong impression in the readers mind; it is now described as only alive enough to have the strength to die; this further enhances the emotional turmoil inside the reader, this metaphor really presents us with a horrifying image of something that just has enough energy to die but without breaking this neutral tone . This is one of the reasons why this poem is so effective because of its distance and

neutrality of the language it is the perfect example of less is sometimes more . Another interesting use of symbolism is the ominous bird a-wing , this could have been put in as a kind of prolepsis to the final stanza, the ominous bird representing his know shattered trust, the word ominous almost suggest something paganistic about this. The fourth stanza is finally one of total despair; however this is done without breaking the neutral melancholic tone of the poem. The narrator now utters phrases like love deceives , this indicates that he is so hurt from that break up that something inside of him was broken that cannot be repaired at least not right know. He further goes on to say that he was shaped by the wrings with wrong , this alliteration shows how much mental anguish he has been through and we get to almost share his pain. The poem ends almost like it started with very neutral monosyllabic words, however the change in the character becomes obvious, instead of referring to the sun as white he now refers to it as the god-curst sun , this shows a change in character how he is starting to emotionally change his state from sadness into anger, the final line I believe was put in to especially to explicitly show the neutral tones of this poem, by ending it with a pond edged with grayish leaves the poem becomes a kind of circular quality referring back to the pond they were standing next to in the first line. The way the poem starts and ends in the same place, the pond, suggests that he cannot escape the never ending cycle of love and pain which he has experienced. It is as if he keeps on repeating the thought in his head, also creating this image od a circle with no escape.

A man is reflecting on the last connotation does ash have (line burnt example of simile What visible object(s) in The white sun, the With the last stanza of the poem the author is Cynical

lover. lack: spent in line eleven-twelve the poem function(s) symbolically? ash tree and the pond. suggesting that the protagonist of the poem is what? about love.

time 4) or

he that

spoke oak

with his or maple

former would

"Neutral Tones" by Thomas Hardy is very neutral in tone;[2] its melancholic note is created by a narrator reflecting on the termination of a relationship. Throughout, a soothing yet depressing language illustrates this duality. Hardy uses a variety of techniques to highlight sadness and emotions in the narrator.

I thought the phrase 'riddles solved long ago' could refer to how well they know each other and how the loss of any enigmatic quality has caused them to become tired and boring, in the same way that a riddle that you know the answer to is not interesting any more. Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy is like the title of the poem says very neutral; the melancholic tone of the poem is created by a narrator reflecting on a termination of a relationship. Throughout The poem a very soothing but at the same time depressing language is used to capture the image of this moment. The Poet uses a variety of techniques to highlight the sadness of the poem and to evaluate the feelings of the narrative voice. In the first stanza the scene is set, we stood by a pond that winter day , and the very language used reflects upon the atmosphere created by the words, no harsh sounds are used and the sentence is an epitome of the poem and the tranquility and yet at the same time disheartening feel that we get from the poem. In the second line we get even more of these very neutral monosyllabic words the sun was white, as though the chidden of god, in this sentence the poets attempt to stay within his own themes are very explicit by the use of the adjective white to describe the sun, the sun normally represented by the colour yellow and a symbol for happiness and life. The very dismal atmosphere is further reinforced by the use of the alliteration of L creating a sort of lazy but yet unsatisfying tone, the further sibilance used in starving sod creates a rather harsh sound that really ads another layer of hopelessness to the poem. The whole

metaphor of the few leaves is used to symbolize the end of an era, almost hint towards the dying of life, in this case however it is not life that died but love. The next stanza talks more about the nature of their relationship, Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove over tedious riddles solved years ago. This can be interpreted to mean that the couple has the same fights over and over again and that there is no progress made, the insignificance of their communication is exposed by the extremely tired and morbid undertone we get in lines such as And some words played between us to and fro- , this really shows that there communication is flawed on a fundamental level making co-existence virtually impossible at least when talking about their relationship. The first line in the third stanza contains a very emotionally appealing oxymoron that really crushes your heart figuratively speaking, describing her smile , a facial gesture usually associated with happiness and joy, as the deadest thing . This really provokes emotion in the reader because the cold causality of the gesture reminds one of the bitterness of this poem. However this oxymoronic metaphor continues after already having left a strong impression in the readers mind; it is now described as only alive enough to have the strength to die; this further enhances the emotional turmoil inside the reader, this metaphor really presents us with a horrifying image of something that just has enough energy to die but without breaking this neutral tone . This is one of the reasons why this poem is so effective because of its distance and neutrality of the language it is the perfect example of less is sometimes more . Another interesting use of symbolism is the ominous bird a-wing , this could have been put in as a kind of prolepsis to the final stanza, the ominous bird representing his know shattered trust, the word ominous almost suggest something paganistic about this. The fourth stanza is finally one of total despair; however this is done without breaking the neutral melancholic tone of the poem. The narrator now utters phrases like love deceives , this indicates that he is so hurt from that break up that something inside of him was broken that cannot be repaired at least not right know. He further goes on to say that he was shaped by the wrings with wrong , this alliteration shows how much mental anguish he has been through and we get to almost share his pain. The poem ends almost like it started with very neutral monosyllabic words, however the change in the character becomes obvious, instead of referring to the sun as white he now refers to it as the god-curst sun , this shows a change in character how he is starting to emotionally change his state from sadness into anger, the final line I believe was put in to especially to explicitly show the neutral tones of this poem, by ending it with a pond edged with grayish leaves the poem becomes a kind of circular quality referring back to the pond they were standing next to in the first line.

Hap
Hardy is expressing his vies of a divine providence that controls the universe through chance. In the first stanze he refers to a "god" without the capital letter indicating not only his unchristian views but how he does no believe in a god. It is almost mocking in the way that he choses not to capitalise the name to express lack of believe. The second stanze brings Hardy to his criticisms of "god". How suffering is chosen to be bestown upon mortals even though often "unmerited". He expresses the idea that people accept this suffering because they are "half-eased" by the prescence of a higher being. "Powerfuller" is capitalised with in comparison to the lower case of "god" shows how Hardy has a stonger believe in a Powerful force than a higher being. This force being divine providence After reading Thomas Hardys Hap, I was left confused and curious with feelings of doom and questions of lifes sufferings. I could not quite grasp what it is the author is trying to say due to either my u nfamiliar with the language or the obscurity in his riddles. With some research, I was able to better understand, or better come to an understanding of, Hardys message in this piece. Beginning with the title of Hap, and considering it the piece of happening, I read that this word was an archaic simile of chance, or luck (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hap). This is quite important in trying to dissect this poem in that Hardy questions whether the existence of such a vengeful god is the reason for lifes cruelties. Hardy presumes that only with the existence of such a god could there be justification for allowing such evils in the world for their own pleasure and ecstasy, that [the characters] loves loss is [the gods] hates profiting. (1073)

However, uncertainty in such the existence of a god is displayed as we identify the structure of the three stanzas (credit to danamercer.blogspot.com for seeing this). The If, Then, But not so structure is like that of an argument, leading up to a conclusion. The first stanza states that If there is such a god that has pleasure in his suffering and sorrow, Then he would bear it, clench and die meaning he would accept it for he must submit to that which is more Powerfuller who has willed his tears. But [it is] not so. Concluding that there does not exist such a God or any God for suffering is but many of natures Hap events, and thus the importance of the title. To the character, all of lifes pain and suffering is but a dicing or roll of the dice, a gamble rather. He doesnt believe in the existence of a god that has joy [in lifes] slain and that allows the unblooms the best hope ever sown. What is the purpose of idolizing and turning to such a God that hates us so? How can there be such a god that is so unjust and morbid? The final answer is that it is just Crass Casualty [that] obstructs the sun and rain due to only chance itself. This belief is reinforced as Hardy identifies the Doomsters as purblind as well as their reasons for his pains. Why is doom what he encounters although he is searching for the light of god (my pilgrimage). He is unsatisfied with the existence of such a god as he states Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited. He feels so strong in the wrongness of a vengeful god that only by bear[ ing] it and die[ing] would he accept this. The poem is very dramatic as it represents the authors fight with faith and the existence of a God that could allow the sufferings of life. Conversely, how can there be a God that controls everything, including the free will of humans. Thats just one of many arguments against a God that would only allow evil as well as good in the world. Because we are human, and because we have free will, we will always have two sides of the coin, good and evil. And one cannot exist without the other, for they are dependently defined. Hardys remaining answer is his realization that chance or Hap is the defining justification for lifes Crass Casualty. Hardys style is indeed representative of the transition from Victorian/Romanticism to modernistic views in that the good does not always win and that things [doesnt] always happen for a reason since he considers chance as one of the answers much traditionalist overlook when they consider purpose for the answer of all unanswered questions. (All references are from the text page 1073) Aside from the one reference of danamercer, all interpretations are those of my own. The following references were only used as a spark to start my writing of a topic. Neutral tones 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 gray. Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove Over tedious riddles solved years ago; And some words played between us to and fro-On which lost the more by our love. The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing Alive enough to have strength to die; And a grin of bitterness swept thereby Like an ominous bird a-wing.... Since then, keen lessons that love deceives, And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree, And a pond edged with grayish leaves. Hap If but some vengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing, Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!" Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die, Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited; Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I

Had willed and meted me the tears I shed. But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain, And why unblooms the best hope ever sown? Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain, And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . . . These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain. The Convergence of the Twain Convergence of the Twain I In a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity, And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she. II Steel chambers, late the pyres Of her salamandrine fires, Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres. III Over the mirrors meant To glass the opulent The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent. IV Jewels in joy designed To ravish the sensuous mind Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind. V Dim moon-eyed fishes near Gaze at the gilded gear And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?". . . VI Well: while was fashioning This creature of cleaving wing, The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything VII Prepared a sinister mate For her -- so gaily great --

A Shape of Ice, for the time fat and dissociate. VIII And as the smart ship grew In stature, grace, and hue In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too. IX Alien they seemed to be: No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of their later history. X Or sign that they were bent By paths coincident On being anon twin halves of one August event, XI Till the Spinner of the Years Said "Now!" And each one hears, And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.