poem by Thomas hardy
poems NEUTRAL TONES by: Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
E 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. Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles solved 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…. 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.
Plight bard
Thomas Hardy has left this poemfor his readers to interpret in many different angles and perspectives due to its \'Neutral Tones\'. Therefore, the idea of bringing together many interpreations as one could in fact bring the poem alive, as it is already seen \'dead\'. However, the fact that it is called Neutral Tones could perhaps suggest that Hardy was going through a point in his life where he felt a decline in everything. This is because he mentions love, religion, life and tries to signify that life itself is ongoing, and things come and go in life, but you have to accept it even though as hard as it may seem to accept, God has given us life , but to him it feels as if he sees life as dead. Another interpretation of this poem could also be that Hardy is referring to the afterlife, the Hereafter, because he was quite religious from a young age, and quite afew monotheistic religions beleive that life after death is ongoing, because your either in Heaven or Hell, but the life is forever, where this life is as if we are dead, and we are to wake up to the heareafter. This is evident in the last stanza, the last line \' And a Pond edged with Greyish leaves\', because it shows how death and the hereafter is inevitable, but it
E 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. Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles solved 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…. 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.
Plight bard
Thomas Hardy has left this poemfor his readers to interpret in many different angles and perspectives due to its \'Neutral Tones\'. Therefore, the idea of bringing together many interpreations as one could in fact bring the poem alive, as it is already seen \'dead\'. However, the fact that it is called Neutral Tones could perhaps suggest that Hardy was going through a point in his life where he felt a decline in everything. This is because he mentions love, religion, life and tries to signify that life itself is ongoing, and things come and go in life, but you have to accept it even though as hard as it may seem to accept, God has given us life , but to him it feels as if he sees life as dead. Another interpretation of this poem could also be that Hardy is referring to the afterlife, the Hereafter, because he was quite religious from a young age, and quite afew monotheistic religions beleive that life after death is ongoing, because your either in Heaven or Hell, but the life is forever, where this life is as if we are dead, and we are to wake up to the heareafter. This is evident in the last stanza, the last line \' And a Pond edged with Greyish leaves\', because it shows how death and the hereafter is inevitable, but it