Neutral Tones

• what is hardy critical of

  Victorian values+the constraints of social class
• what does hardy believe about God

  disallusioned about the goodness of God+man after witnessing the horrors of WW1
• eye-rhyme quote


  'love'+'rove'
• wht word does rove rhyme better with

  loathe
• what does the eye rhyme imply

  implies the casual disinterest from the lover as if her eyes were just skimming
• caesura

  first stanza-has more end-stopped lines - contrasting to the last stanza which has mid-stopped lines
• what does the contrast in caesura show

  emphasises the speaker's emotional brokeness as he recalls that very winter day but also establishes a sense of sobering acceptance of reality
• what does chidden of God introduce

  idea of punishment+God is presented in a similarly sinister manner through 'God curst sun'
• God curst sun method

  sibilance
• what does the sibilance represent

  the cyclic nature of the poem+the fact that God is fundamentally against their relationship