“Neutral Tones” Introduction

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“Neutral Tones” Summary

“Neutral Tones” Themes

• 

  Love and Loss

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• 

  Memory and Emotion

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Neutral Tones”

• Lines 1-4

  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. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove 
  Over tedious riddles of years ago; 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  And some words played between us to and fro 
  On which lost the more by our love. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing 
  Alive enough to have strength to die; 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  And a grin of bitterness swept thereby 
  Like an ominous bird a-wing…. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  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. 

  

  

  

  

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“Neutral Tones” Symbols

• 

  The Natural World

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“Neutral Tones” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Paradox

  

  

  

  

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• Polysyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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“Neutral Tones” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Chidden
• Sod
• Ash
• Rove
• Wrings
• Curst

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Neutral Tones”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Neutral Tones” Speaker

“Neutral Tones” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Neutral Tones”

More “Neutral Tones” Resources

• External Resources

  • Wessex Poems and Other Verses — Full text of the collection in which "Neutral Tones" first appeared.

  • Thomas Hardy Resources — Various resources related to Thomas Hardy provided by the Hardy society, including analysis of various poems.

  • Thomas Hardy Documentary — A BBC documentary about Hardy's life and works.

  • Thomas Hardy and His Letters — An interesting article about Hardy's communications via letter.

  • Victorian Pessimism — The British podcast "In Our Time' discusses the general atmosphere of pessimism in which Hardy was writing.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Thomas Hardy

  • A Broken Appointment

  • Afterwards

  • At an Inn

  • At Castle Boterel

  • A Wife in London

  • Channel Firing

  • Drummer Hodge

  • Hap

  • He Never Expected Much

  • The Convergence of the Twain

  • The Darkling Thrush

  • The Man He Killed

  • The Oxen

  • The Ruined Maid

  • The Voice

  • Weathers

  • Where the Picnic Was