A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy

“A Wife in London”

• “A” (Indefinite Article) suggests that there are more people in a similar situation

• “Wife” suggests her martial status is the important aspect of her identity

• “London” suggests it’s an English soldier of the Boer War since poem was publish 2 months after Boer War started

• “London” is heart of England, alludes to the love between the soldier and wife

“The Tragedy”

Creates sense of foreboding

“tawny vapour”

• Refers to the yellow of fog that often covered London

• Eerie sinister atmosphere

“Webby fold on fold”

• Creates a sense of entrapment

• Hardy criticising London

“Like a waning taper”

• Means “like a candle burning down”

• Classic image of inevitability & death

• Foreshadows husband’s death

“The street-lamp glimmers cold”

• (Oxymoron) “glimmers” associated with light and warmth and yet it's “cold”

• Foreshadows the feelings the wife will experience

“knock cracks”

• Consonance makes the phrase harsh and violent, like the soldiers death

• Could reflect how the news is a harsh interruption in the wife’s life

• Reflects the violence of the soldier’s death

“flashed news”

“Flashed” suggests news was sudden and unexpected

“Of meaning it dazes to understand”

Unusual syntax mirrors Wife’s shock

“-has fallen-”

• caesura slows down pace of poem adding emotional weight to the line

• Mimics style of the telegram

• “has fallen” is euphemistic language used to display the wife’s refusal to accept the news

• British army trying to soften the news for the wife showing that they’re caring

“…”

Ellipsis suggests wife cannot read on, suggesting she doesn’t want to accept the news

“II - The Irony”

Indicates a slight shift in the poem

“fog hangs thicker”

Pathetic Fallacy of the fog is implies the feelings of grief, sadness and depression mirroring the wife’s emotions

“firelight flicker”

Image represents the fragility of life

“whom the worm now knows”

• Blunt Language express soldier’s death

• Contrasts to “has fallen”

• Emphasises the permanency of the husbands death

“Fresh - firm”

Connotations of life, ironic

“hoped return”, “home-planned jaunts”, “new love”

• Suggests the soldier was optimistic of war

• Soldier wasn’t expecting to die

• Reflect over confidence of the British Soldiers

“jaunt”

• Short excursion or journey

• Connotations of youth

• Emphasises the tragedy of the death

“summer weather”

• Time of happiness and bliss, ironic as poem is sad

• “Summer” part of the soldiers life (his prime) shows he had a lot of his life left, emphasising the tragedy

“new love”

Ironic as there will be “new love” as the wife mourns the soldier