Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy

• Neutral Tones is a poem written in 1867 by the English novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy. Neutral Tones is a sombre poem that contemplates the final moments of a romantic relationship as told from the viewpoint of the speaker. The overall tone of the poem is marked by feelings of bitterness and resentment and it exemplifies how this loss can entirely alter an individual. The poem delves deep into the speaker’s sorrow and hopelessness as he reminisces over the fact that a relationship from his past had already come to an end long before its actual separation.
• “We stood by a pond that winter day,

  And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,

  And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;

  – They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.”
• • The speaker begins by the poem by describing a recollection of a winter day
  • The speaker and their former lover were situated near a pond that appeared below a sun which seemed faded white, as though it had been reprimanded (“chidden”) by God
  • Gray leaves, which had fallen from an ash tree, were scattered on the ground 
• • Through the use of pathetic fallacy , the bleakness of the “winter day” and the dullness of the sun, Hardy creates a dismal and depressing mood
• • The personification of the withering leaves and the “starving sod”, symbolises the couple's relationship and emphasises the sense of despair and hopelessness
• “Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove

  Over tedious riddles of years ago;

  And some words played between us to and fro

  On which lost the more by our love.”
• “The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing

  Alive enough to have strength to die;

  And a grin of bitterness swept thereby

  Like an ominous bird a-wing…”
• • Hardy uses a stark contrast by juxtaposing the lover’s former warm and loving smile with "deadest", emphasising the death of the relationship being described in this poem
• “Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,

  And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me

  Your face, and the God curst sun, and a tree,

  And a pond edged with grayish leaves.”
• he poem ends with a melancholic and depressing sentiment
• Neutral Tones is structured using quatrains and follows the traditional structure of an 'elegy.' An elegy is a lamentation poem composed in memory of a departed companion or loved one, which links to one of the themes of the poem
• The poem consists of four regular quatrains which are rhymed in an ABBA pattern
• The poem uses a circular structure. The circular structure mirrors the speaker’s reluctance to let go of his painful memory and could allude to the speaker’s inability to move forward
• Hardy uses enjambment in the poem to increases its pace though he also slows it down by using caesura
• Hardy employs pathetic fallacy by describing "winter" to evoke feelings of sadness and coldness right from the beginning
• There is an absence of colour throughout the poem. The use of the word "neutral" in the title suggests a lack of passion or intensity. Hardy's choice of words such as "gray", "white", and "ash" further reinforces this sense of lifelessness and emotional emptiness
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• "We stood by a pond that winter day"


  Language about lifelessness: lack of physical movement contributes to lifeless atmosphere.

  Weather reflects their feelings - they are emotionally cold towards each other.
• "And the sun was white,..."


  Language about lifelessness: The sun is drained of warmth and colour which reflects how the love has drained from their relationships.
• "...as though chidden of God,"


  Language about suffering: "chidden" means scolding. Imaines that God has scolded the sun. This adds to the bleak mood of the poem, and hints that the narrator sees everything in a negative way.
• "And a few leaves lay..."


  Language about lifelessness:: Alliteration emphasises how the leaves are still and unmoving.
• "...on the starving sod;"


  Language about suffering: Alliteration and personification emphasises this impression of suffering - the lifeless ground reflects their dying relationship.
• "-They had fallen from an ash, and were grey."


  Language about lifelessness: The leaves are from an ash tree from, but this also links to ash from a fire - their relationship has burnt out.
• "Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove."


  Content: In love poems, eyes are traditionally shown to be a positive feature, but they are shown negatively here.
• "Over tedious riddles of years ago;"


  Language about suffering: Enjambment mimics how her eyes move over his face. The words "rove" and "Over" look and sound similar, which reflects the boredom she feels.
• "...riddles of years ago

  And some words played between us to and fro

  On which lost the more by our love."


  Content: Game imagery - love should be fun and playful, but theirs became "tedious" and they "lost"
• "The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing"


  Language about lifelessness: Oxymoron - a smile shouldn't be dead. This emphasises her complete lack of feeling towards him.
• "Alive enough to have strength to die;"


  Language about lifelessness: She chose to let her smile die - maybe she chose to let the love between them die too.
• "And a grin of bitterness swept thereby

  Like an ominous bird a-wing..."


  Content: "bitterness" indicates the mood. Simile comparing a bird flying away suggests the end of the relationship.

  Structure: ellipsis represents the time when the relationship came to an end, in the time that passes between stanza three and four.
• "Since the, keen lessons that love deceives"


  Language about suffering: "keen" means sharp or strong - these lessons have been painful.
• "And wrings with wrong..."


  Language about suffering: alliteration emphasises his pain and anguish.
• "...have shaped to me"


  Structure: Other experiences of deceitful love remind him of this incident by the pond - perhaps it was the first time
• "Your face, ..."...


  Structure: Poem begins and ends by the pond - this shows how the memory of that day still affects him.
• "and the God-curst sun, and a tree,"


  Language about structure: The "t" in "curst" is a harsher sound that "chidden" in the first stanza - this hints that the narrator has become more bitter over time.
• "And a pond edged with greyish leaves."


  Language about lifelessness: The leaves are grey because they are rotting - this reflects how their love has decayed. The repetition of this colour from the first stanza emphasises the decay.
• Poet

  Thomas Hardy (184-1928) was born in Dorset.
• Poem

  'Neutral Tones' was written in 1867 and published in 1898 as part of Hardy's 'Wessex Poems and Other Versus' collection. Much of Hardy's work is regarded as pessimistic and bleak.
• Narrator

  The narrator remembers a day when he and his lover stood by a pond. It is an unpleasant memory - it is clear that their relationship was failing and about to come to an end.
• Lover's behaviour

  He describes his lover's behaviour - he seems to believe that she found him boring and had fallen out of love with him.
• Remembering


  Whenever he has been hurt by love since, he remembers that day by the pond.