Introduction of the Poem:
The poem entitled Neutral Tones is very neutral in tone. Its melancholic note has been created by the poet reflecting on the termination of a relationship. The poem expresses the bitter sweetness of the memory of a love which was the greatest source of joy in the past, but which, later on loses its joyousness and its pleasure. This poem has not been addressed to his wife, but most probably, the woman who is addressed here, is Hardy's cousin, Tryphena Sparks with whom he had an unsuccessful love – affair. This poem is a kind of lament over a love which has died. It is a retrospective and reminiscent poem in which an experience of the past has been depicted most effectively with great feeling. In it there is a considerable psychological interest. It is difficult to understand and explore the mind of a woman; the poet seems to be saying as he recalls that experience of the past. Of course, the poem is a warning to all future lovers.
 |
| Thomas Hardy’s Poem Neutral Tones—Summary and Critical Analysis |
In the poem Hardy uses a natural background to support the mood of the poem. The relationship between the lovers is reinforced by the sombre natural scene which is depicted here as the background of that relationship. The ash tree is generally a symbol of happiness, but the happiness of love has passed away and the few remaining leaves of the ash tree have turned gray. The poet uses a variety of techniques to highlight sadness and emotions in the speaker.
Summary of the Poem:
Stanza 1:
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.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. We = it has been used for the poet and his beloved. Most probably the poet's beloved was his cousin, Tryphena Sparks with whom he had an intense and passionate relationship. But the poet's love affair with her was absolutely failure. 2. By a pond = near the pool of water. 3. The Sun was white= due to being a wintry day; the light of the Sun was dim. 4. White = dim: not bright. 5. As ... God = it appeared as if the Sun had been scolded by God, so it was not in joyous mood. 6. Chidden = (pp. of chide), scolded, rebuked. 7. And a few ... sod= a few gray leaves lay scattered on the drying turf. 8. Starving= drying. 9. Sod = a grassy plot; a layer of matted earth formed by grass and plant roots. 10. Ash = familiar timber tree.
Paraphrase:
The poet expresses the bitter - sweetness of the memory of his love affair. His love affair was the greatest source of joy in the past, but now it had lost its joyousness and pleasure. The poet recalls the wintry day when he and his beloved were standing by a pond. They had the feelings for each other. The Sun was not shining brightly because it was the day of wintry season. In winter, the Sun loses its brightness. (In winter, the Sun never shines brilliantly in the European countries.) But the poet imagines that the Sun had lost its brightness because of God's scolding to it. Perhaps after hearing the harsh words of God, it showed its melancholic attitude. A few gray leaves lay scattered on the drying grassy field. The leaves had fallen down from an ash tree.
Stanza 2:
Your eyes on me were an 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.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. Rove= to wander aimlessly, to roam. 2. Tedious = difficult; tiresome; wearying. 3. Riddle = an enigma or puzzle, a mysterious question. 4. Years ago= for many years or for a long time. 5. Your eyes ... me = the poet observed that his beloved's eyes were wandering over him with great dullness. 6. Over ... ago = it seemed as if the beloved's eyes tried to solve those difficult and puzzling matters which were left unsolved for a long time. 7. And some ...fro = they spoke a few words with each other. 8. On which ... love= the words seemed to have lost their meaning or significance because of their misunderstanding in love.
Paraphrase:
While standing near the pool of water, the poet felt that her beloved was in a very serious mood. She kept silent. But the poet observed that he and his beloved were indifferent for each other at the moment of their meeting. The beloved's eyes roving over the poet were dull with no excitement and light, and seemed to be guessing at the riddles unsolved for many years which made love lose its value and its interest. The poet's beloved always regarded him as a riddle and guessed at him all the time. Many questions about the poet's personality, nature and tendency were always wandering in her mind and no answer had been found yet. She oftenly thought whether he loved her or not, if he could achieve the same social status as hers, if the man was a good match with her and so on. Certain words travelled between them. There was great communication gap between them. They could utter only a few words. The words which they uttered seemed to have lost their meaning or significance because of the misunderstandings which had occurred between them long ago. Here the poet refers to the estrangement which had been caused by certain misunderstandings between the lovers.
Stanza 3:
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.......
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. The smile ... thing = the smile hanging on her tender lips seemed to be the most lifeless thing in the world. 2. Deadest thing = the thing which was more dead than any other dead thing. 3. On your mouth = on her lips. 4. Alive ... to die = her smile looked as though she was prepared to die. 5. Strength to die = her smile could express the desire of death. 6. And a grin ... a - wing = her lifeless and dim smile expressing the bitterness fled from the lips. It was gone like a bird of ill-omen.7. Grin = smile. 8. Ominous portending=portending evil or harm; threatening, foreboding.
Paraphrase:
The poet recalls that it was a wintry day when he found that his beloved's attitude towards him had undergone a change. On that day she had a bitter smile on her lips. There was no liveliness in her smile. It looked like the most lifeless thing in the world. Her fading smile indicated that she was completely disgusted in the company of the poet. It also showed that she was not happy with the relationship developed with the poet. Although her smile was lifeless, yet it showed her departure from the life of the poet. It had the sign of fleeing away from this monotonous love affair. It appeared as if she were not ready to lead her life in dull company of the poet. In this way, the dim and bitter smile floating on his beloved's lips had gone forever. It had gone like a bird of ill omen flying away. The episode of poet's love affair was over.
Stanza 4:
Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,
And wrong with wrong, have shaped to me
Your face, and the God - crust Sun, and a tree,
And a pond edged with grayish leaves.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. Since then= from that wintry day when the poet's beloved broke a long time relationship with him and filled his lap with sorrow and pain. 2. Keen ... deceives= the poet has derived great lesson ( moral ) from the failure of his love that love can deceive a man and it can fill his life with utter sorrow, anguish and pain. 3. Keen lessons = painful lessons. 4. And wrings ... wrong = the other lesson which the poet has learnt is that the injustice done by the beloved to man can bring great pain to the victim of love. 5. Have ... me = lessons learnt by the poet remind him that wintry day when she left à him mercilessly. 6. Your face= the poet recalls the expressions of his beloved's face when she was about to say good bye to his love. 7. The God - curst Sun= he recalls the Sun scolded by God. On that wintry day when the poet met his beloved, the Sun was also in melancholic mood. 8. And a tree = the poet recalls an ash tree stood at the bank of the pool of water. 10 And a pond leaves= whenever the poet recalls his former love affair and the lessons derived from it, he thinks of the sight and atmosphere of the pond. On the banks of the pond there lay scattered the dry and dead leaves.
Paraphrase:
Since that day the poet has learnt certain lessons from the love which at one time existed between them but which has lost all meaning subsequently. In fact, the lesson which he has derived from the failure of his love, is very painful. The sudden and unexpected separation of the poet from his beloved brings him despair and frustration. It forces the poet to think that it is difficult to understand and explore the mind of a woman. In love with a woman, man cannot have faith. He is of the view that love can deceive a man and that love can fill a man with agonising sense of the injustice which is done to him. Whenever, he recalls that wintry day of his meeting with his beloved, the face of his beloved stands before him. He recalls the expressions which she wore on her face. He cannot forget her serious face. He recalls the dim light of that wintry day. On the occasion of meeting with his beloved, the Sun did not shine properly. It seemed as if it had been chidden by God. The moral in love brings to his mind the picture of that ash tree which was stood near the pond and the dried and dead leaves of the tree lay scattered on the banks of the pond.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem entitled Neutral Tones is a retrospective and reminiscent poem in which an experience of the past has been depicted with great feeling. It expresses the bitter - sweetness of the memory of a love which was heart - warming and a source of great joy in the past but which has lost its joyousness and pleasure. In fact it is about the sorriness of love, the ruin of love, the deception of love, and the conflict and ironies between love and reality. This poem, having been written as early as 1867 could not have been addressed to his wife. Most probably the woman here was Hardy's cousin, Tryphena Sparks with whom Hardy had an intense and passionate relationship which however ended in tension and bitterness.
Thought - Content:
On a wintry day, the poet and his beloved were standing by the side of a pond when the Sun looked dim as if it had been scolded by God and was therefore feeling melancholy. A few gray leaves lay scattered on the dry turf. She was looking at him intently. Her eyes seemed to be meditating in a leisurely manner, certain matters of many years ago which had been like riddles, difficult to solve. They occasionally spoke to each other. Her smile looked as though she was prepared to die. It seemed to be the most lifeless thing in the world. However there was some little life in that smile which seemed to be ebbing away, leaving behind nothing at all. Since that day certain lessons had been learnt by him (from the love which at one time existed between them but which has lost all meaning subsequently). One lesson which the poet learnt was that love deceived at times. The poet is left with only a painful memory of that woman and of the prevailing geographical situation near the pond.
A Reminiscent Poem:
In the poem, Hardy recalls a bitter - sweet experience. It was a day in winter when he had met the lady in question, and when certain words had been spoken by both of them to express their sense of disillusionment. The lady had felt particularly bitter on that occasion because she had felt frustrated in her relations with the poet. There had been a smile on her mouth, but this smile was “the deadest thing, alive enough to have strength to die.” From that experience, Hardy had drawn an inference. He had come to the conclusion that love can deceive a lover , and that the beloved can do the greatest possible injustice to a lover.
Elegiac Note:
The poem is full of depression and sadness. It has a depressing and saddening effect on the reader too. It depicts the passing away of the love which the poet and his beloved had at one time felt for each other. The memory of a love, which has come to an end, is always bitter but it has its sweetness also. In this poem it is the bitter - sweet of love, which finds expression. The mood of the poet here is one of despair, which is characteristic of most poems by Hardy. The tone of the poem is markedly elegiac. The poem is a kind of a lament over a love which has died.
Nature Imagery as a Background for Depicting Human Feelings:
Hardy gives us only brief pictures of Nature, and he provides a natural background for the representation of human feelings and emotions. In the poem the main idea is the rift which occurred between Hardy and a beloved of his, most probably his cousin Tryphena Sparks. But the poem begins with a brief picture of Nature. The lovers stood by a pond on a day in winter when the Sun was white as if chidden by God. A few leaves lay on the starving sod. These leaves had fallen from an ash - tree, and were gray in colour. The poem then ends with an abridged repetition of this picture: the God - curst Sun, a tree, and a pond edged with grayish leaves. Here we have a human relationship depicted in the frame of a scene of Nature; and the kind of Nature - picture which we get, accords fully with relationship which had gone sour.
Style and Language:
This love lyric is composed in a dull, dismal and dreary mood. With a special rhyming scheme, the poem consisting of sixteen lines with four tetrastiches can be divided into two parts: the first three stanzas about a moment in the past, and the fourth about the “lessons”, the speaker learns from what happened between the speaker and the woman, which offers a fusion of the images of the lover's face with those of the scenery. And the poem predominantly rhymes abba, cddc, effe and ghhg. The first line and the last line of each stanza are rhymed, so are the second and the third of each stanza. The poem goes as a smoothly flowing stream running from the very beginning of the poem till the end of the poem in good order:
aa (day, gray); bb (God, Sod); cc (rove, love); dd (ago, fro); ee (thing, wing): ff (die, thereby) ; gg (deceives, leaves); hh (me, tree).
In the poem, there no instances of typographic foregrounding and no significant departures from the typographic norms of English poetry, except that the last lines of each stanza are significantly shorter and meaningfully in the indented style. The layout of the poem is nothing unusual, and the entire poem is in declarative mood. The poem excellently exemplifies the poet's semi - dark period, which expresses a gloomier tone with assonance used in it.
There is a most appropriate simile in the grin of bitterness being compared to an ominous bird in flight. There is alliteration in the phrases: “Wrings with wrong”; and “God - curst Sun.”
