Neutral tones

• We stood by a pond that winter day

  Past tense verb of stood presents the past relationship as over, pathetic fallacy introduced theme of coldness
• 'The smile on your mouth as the deadest thing'/ alive enough to have the strength to die'

  brutally dehumanises this lost love interest, reducing their 'smile' which is something that is not an object to a mere 'thing' drained of life

  'alive' and 'die'=antithesis which suggests couple are prone to conflict and contrast with each other in a destructive way,

  juxtaposition which contrasts life and death which cancel each other out making it neutral

  former lovers smile described as this is a morbid reference which subverts the connatations of a smile to show how something that should be happy has become something torturous

  Hyperbole exaggerate animosity between characters
• 'Wrings with wrong'


  alludes to a state of tumoil, consonance=repetition of the 'r' sound imitating multiple determined attempts to wring out an object, ridding it of unwanted fluids

  metaphor ecompasses the crux of Hardy's poem, as the speaker drains themselves trying to rid themselves of the memory of this now forgotten figure

  Repetition of approximant w shows difficulty speaker is having expressing themselves
• ‘Over tedious riddles of years ago

  Temporal deixis shows loss of love over time
• Starving sod

  Sibilance conveys despair
• 'And a Grin of bitterness swept thereby/'like an omnious bird a wing'


  Oxymoron to show speaker is viewing world through negative lens

  adjective 'swept' sheds light on the fleeting nature of the speakers distant memory of their love,whilst a similie likens this to the behaviour of a bird in flight

  imagery involving nature depcits the speakers view of a blur of memories, comparable to the seamless change and constant movement within the natural world surrounding that which humans have created
• Greyish leaves 


  Poem end with Melancholic and depressing sentiment shows relationship was unsuccessful

  Lack of colour when using colour imagery shows pessimism
• form

  ABBA rhyme scheme= regular rhyming of the syllables at the ends of the first and last lines of each stanza as well as the rhyming of the end syllables of the middle two lines represents the ongoing cycle of nature and the idea that life doesnt stop

  regular quatrains= consists of quatrains which could be emblematic of the ongoing numbers of emotions within relationships. this emphasises the invitability of life continuing on despite these emotional hurdles, regularity of stanzas emphasises regularity of such emotions across individuals
• structure

  end stopping= shown by a semi colon at end of second line of each stanza and a full stop at end of stanzas 1,2 and 4 develops idea of continuiation and regularity and also introduces a tense and blunt undertone

  end stopping visible following lines 3,6 and 10 of poem are reminiscent of the abrupt seizure of an intense relationship, shedding light on the bitter attitude that said lines intend to portray

  speaker almost feels like their life is stagnant and dull since this tragic ending to relationship
• use of colour

  colour is an important tool used to highlight the way in which speakers memories have affected view of world around them

  blatant colours like 'white' and 'greyish' evoke a monotonous, wearisome environment and the adjective 'ash' when denoting a species of free from which a leaf has 'fallen induces a semantic field of grief and lack of life

  last stanza of the poem the verb 'decieves' and noun 'leaves' imperfectly rhyme with the personal pronoun 'me' and noun 'tree'

  'tree' linking pragmatically to 'leaves'

  noun 'leaves' has a homonym which is suggestive of a departure of the speaker from their romantic situation as well as a detachment from life and colour in memories