Anthology - Neutral Tones

QUOTE: death imagery, paradox, superlative, synecdoche

“the smile on your mouth was the deadest thing“

QUOTE: death imagery, metaphor, hyperbole

“alive enough to have the strength to die“

QUOTE: semantic field of play, oxymoron

“tedious riddles“

QUOTE: semantic field of play, personification

“words played between us to and fro”

QUOTE: natural imagery, sibilance, metaphor, personification

“starving sod“

QUOTE: natural imagery, polysyndeton, list colour imagery

“and the God-curst sun, and a tree, // and a pond edged with greyish leaves“

QUOTE: colour imagery, declarative

“the sun was white“

QUOTE: religious imagery, simile

“as though chidden of God“

QUOTE: religious imagery, sibilance

“God-curst sun“

FORM AND STRUCTURE [5]:

• 4 quatrains

• circular structure

• ABBA rhyme scheme

• tetrameter

• tense shift

FORM AND STRUCTURE: 4 quatrains

represents regularity and repetitiveness of suffering

FORM AND STRUCTURE: circular structure [2]

• represents endless cycle of pain and misery

• juxtaposes ending of relationship

FORM AND STRUCTURE: ABBA rhyme scheme

suggests finding solace in regularity

FORM AND STRUCTURE: tetrameter

fast metre that contrasts stagnant atmosphere

FORM AND STRUCTURE: tense shift

represents endless suffering and ongoing pain

CONTEXT [3]:

• written by Thomas Hardy

• Hardy was known to be insecure, depressed and sensitive as a result of two unhappy marriages

• he often used nature in his poems, and specifically how characters reflect nature

THEMES [4]:

• nature

• religion

• broken relationships

• loss