GCSE (9-1): Literature: Poetry: AQA Love and Relationships: Neutral Tones: Author's Purpose

to explore the human emotion of loss

the poem is largely about exploring the universal but dreadful feeling of a loving relationship that goes cold; something that was once beautiful has been lost

to reflect the conventions of the Romantic Literary movement

romantic poetry glorified nature as being highly significant which may be the reason why the natural setting in this poem appears to reflect the themes of loss and depression

to challenge the conventions of the Romantic Literary movement

the neutral setting can also be seen as a way of challenging the conventions of the Romantic movement by suggesting that nature does not care about the loss of love

to reflect new ideas about science

ideas such as Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' had a profound effect on Victorian people's outlook on issues such as religion and life in general and there was a prevailing feeling that nature did not care about the human experience - the indifferent tone of this poem could be a reflection of that

to question whether or not we sometimes misinterpret nature

author Robert Langbaum suggests that the poem's message is how, under great emotional pressure, we misinterpret nature's indifference as symbolic and important

to criticise the destruction of nature as a result of the Industrial Revolution

Hardy was known to comment on the effect of the Industrial Revolution and, therefore, another interpretation is that it reflects his sorrow at the death of the rural landscape, as parts of it became industrialised, 'grey' and ashen.

to warn the reader 'that love deceives'

Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,' - however, Hardy does not make clear who has been deceitful in this poem, the speaker or the speaker's partner - he could be suggesting that both have been deceitful

to criticise the institution of marriage as something deceitful

to reference to 'love deceives' in the final stanza could be a reflection of similar ideas to the ones he wrote in 'Jude the Obscure' which dared to challenge Victorian ideas about marriage and was widely criticized and even banned by libraries