Context

  • Author: Thomas Hardy
  • DOB: 2/6/1840
  • POB: Stinsford
  • DOD: 11/1/1928
  • POD: Dorchester
  • Spouse: Florence Dugdale/ Emma Glifford
  • Time Of Origin: 12/1899
    • Two months after the start of the Boer War.
    • A prominent newspaper denounced Hardy as a pacifist at a similar time.
  • Meaning Of Name: The poem is written in the perspective of the wife of a recently passed soldier.