Extended commentary of ‘Neutral Tones’ by Thomas Hardy Essay

On the Title Neutral T 1s encourages the reader to postpone each nimble inferences about the poem. It also refers to the muted (monochrome) colour scheme set up in the first and last stanzas these colours, in turn, be drug ab white plagued by stouthearted to emphasise the blandness/deadness of the emotions betwixt the lineament and his love. frankincense the title is an introduction to both the poems images and emotional back-drop.Themes passion (cruelty of it), Distance, Pain every takeall Structure A four stanza lyric with a continuous A/B/A/B rhyme scheme. These restate ideas may add to the idea of monotony or dullness in emotion. This is a weak idea, however.First Stanza bloods Hardy presents a video and a persona. The use of the personal pronoun we has two operations 1) It establishes a subtle familiarity between the reader and the persona we fucking partially associate with the persona if he/she (sex is not made explicitly clear) through the simple use of the pron oun. 2) The overleap of fixed g closureer does also add to a feeling of blank distancing effects argon used throughout the poem and will be explored. This particular one is maintain throughout.The scene presented is one of two figures rest by a pond nearby sits a sod a small mourning band turf. The description of this scene is incredibly important to the agreement of the poem it sets the mood and leads to an sluicetual repetition of the image itself (last verse). The scene is stark of colour, Hardy-esque by character and elegiac in tone. HEREBY NOTE Hardy precisely uses the sense of fold in this poem (a nuance maintained throughout) this is the only sense which can be used from afar. Thus we describe an otherwise distancing effect.The scene is devoid of colour Hardy is introducing his colour scheme. As previously discussed, this reflects the muted temperament of emotion expressed in the poem. peradventure one can label the colours monochrome? Evidence, if needed in an exam, with brief exploration* Sun was white signifying a light knackered of colour. This phrase becomes important when considering the other images associated with the sun and sunlight. Chidden of God means told away by God. This is an intentionally extreme image, certainly a rather hopeless one Compare with the God-curst sun in fourth stanza.* Few leaves weakest of the quotes. Indicates a lack of green on the sod (in terms of numerical value).* starvation sod the grass is dying, and therefore turning brown. Like dried grass in the summer?* Fallen from an ash significant choice of guide (obscure point though). Ash is associated implicitly with death.* Gray for use when desperate.The colours are numbed, as to reflect how the breakup of a alliance can be as numbing. Quote SLS Hints towards a passionless palate of senses. minute Stanza Notes Hardy reveals the meaning/purpose of his scene in this stanza, by explaining and poetically exploring the relationship between the person a and his (former) love. The muted colour scheme, it becomes clear, does corroborate the effect above described.* Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove/ Over tedious riddles of years ago This phone line indicates both the trivial nature that the persona associates with the couples riddles (problems?) now, and the implied importance of these problems possessed in in the first place days. What does this change tell us?* Perhaps that the couple grew cold and got worldly with one anothers problems, hence the use of tedious. The line also suggests that the riddles used to be solved, or that they encounter recurred. Remember that the supply is both unnamed and unspecified in some(prenominal) way mayhap he/she has grown so cold to the extent that he/she sees the persona only in terms of what was? It is negative thought in any case. Quote SLS They see previous mysteries which no longer put forward them.Indeed, Hardy continues to suggest both the boredom created within their relati onship and uses to a greater extent distancing techniques in the next linesAnd some words played between us to and fro/ On which muzzy the to a greater extent of our loveNote how the words are accustomed physical attri preciselyes, or entities, as impertinent to acoustic ones. We can figuratively see the words (because they are played between the figures), but cant hear them. This reinforces our idea of distance, in that the scene is well-nigh behind a glass screen, where the sexes of the characters are blurred, we can see only particular details and cannot hear, smell or touch anything. As forwards said, this allows the reader to associate with the persona, albeit vaguely.Boredom reinforced played between us suggests some crude game these problems seem trivial and dull now. And they lost the more of their love on them the games didnt do the relationship any goodThird Stanza Notes Hardy recreates the moment at which the love died, and the relationship fully send awayed. To ac hieve this, he focuses on the partners mouth.The smiling on your mouth was the deadest thing/ viable enough to affirm vividness to dieThe use of an oxymoronic superlative stresses the death of emotion between the pair, unless emphasised by the enjambment used it highlights both the deadest thing and Alive enough, making such an image both stark and take down more surprising. The image presented, as if the smile embodied the relationship, in one which is so close to death but has enough physical aptitude to complete the physical action of dying. An odd idea, but it works effectively. Note how the juxtaposition between life and death presents further contrast (when comparison poems, this becomes important). Ad. As a further distancing technique, observe how Hardy keeps only to sight he uses the smile to fully embody the relationship. However, Hardy does not end his onslaught of depression thereAnd a grin of bitterness move thereby/ Like an ominous bird a-wing.Hardy here note s the rendering of the lovers weak smile to an ex-lovers grin, a positively relished expression of bitterness. As the reader, it is impossible to discern exactly who is relishing the moment is it the partner, in a very cruel statement of emotion? Or is it the persona, in some oddly malicious reverie-state, remembering this moment and the bother it brought to him consequently, only to scorn it now, as keen lessons in love have numbed the emotional agony?(Probably the former, as the latter changes the entire dynamic of the poem)In any case, it is another confusion of oxymoronic imagery (grins and bitterness lam to be mutually exclusive) to express the hurting of the relationships end it certainly emphasises a strong sense of emotion. Hardys use of such emotive language may be considered out of place in a poem all out numbing pain and emotion surely an ominous bird a-wing would fit better in Macbeth than next to a grey pond? Consider this possible flunk of this for yourself.(It m ight just be a forced rhyme.)Fourth Stanza Notes term is the opening note upon Hardy opens the fourth stanza, simply by victimisation the words Since then. They put the reader in the present indeed, by implication, this emphasises how the rest of the poem was in the past. Its a memory What outcome does this bear?* El Nombre Uno) And yes, I do think that Hardy should have been Mexican. One can have a lot of fun with a Poet in a sombrero. Simply, it is another distancing technique. Distance in time* Numro Deux Hardy eat snails? The present tense allows for the circularity of the main image in the poem see hence.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.At last, Hardy arrives at the crux of his poem that Love deceives, lies and hurts. The fact of this (these lessons) takes on the mental image of the scene earlier described it IS a memory, and a blurr y one, given the flimsy details described in the poem. In a little more detail, there are two phrases which must be analysed I) God-curst sun is even more emotive that the previously described chidden of God. The variation in terms should be explored. The severity of judgement, carried out by none other than the almighty, presents us with a very bleak image the sun has physically paled under the strain. II) Wrings with wrong is obviously emphasised by the alliteration and the caustic consonance which accompanies it. But does the sense of torsion implied by the word wrings suggest a tearing of a relationship? Perhaps.Note the continued use of the word and does this not show the memory is broken and returns to the persona mentally in small pieces, thus adding to the distance created once again? Indeed, on with the variation in terms, it gives the impression of a minimalist, mottled and monochrome image, alike(p) a half-remembered dream. Is there a unstrainedness to forget it? Do es the persona want to void further pain by remembering the image, thus has repressed it along with the associated emotions? (Freudian psychoanalyst in the room.)On the same plane of thought, but to crap a different a conclusion, consider this thesis the memory has in truth faded already, either due to Time or a willing repression. We are reading about a faded memory, as opposed to the persona writing down his VIVID memory in effect to repress it himself. Like the First World War poets. Difficult conceptsI say this because the image obviously embodies the emotion, and the circular usage of these conjoined principles proves that the memory is haunting the persona. But if the memory is fading, as shown by all of the distancing techniques, then have the memories accompanying it faded along with it too?(So, dear Mr.) Conclusion. twain ideas. 1) In writing the poem and using the distancing techniques, the persona is neutralising the pain (right now, that is, given that literature is a verbal suspension of time) and is establishing neutral tones. 2) The memory has already faded along with the pain. This is a mere statement of the fact. Neutral Tones have been established.