Comparing the poems Neutral Tones and Absence

Comparing the poems Neutral Tones and Absence

Both the poems 'Neutral Tones' by Thomas Hardy and 'Absence' by

Elizabeth Jennings mention and describe the poets' feelings about

losing their partners. Even though the general theme, the loss of

love, is the same, many features such as tone, imagery, language and

rhyme scheme differ from each other.

Hardy emphasises more on his feelings towards his break up. He doesn't

actually mention how he feels, but instead, the imagery he uses and

the way he describes his ex-girlfriend shows that he feels broken and

angry. The tone in this poem is very solemn and dull, though it is

quite strong in some areas like "The smile on your mouth was the

deadest thing" and "your face, and the God-curst sun grayish leaves".

Hardy also got more vigorous and frustrated towards the end of the

poem. In Jennings's poem, the tone is much different. Unlike Hardy,

she describes her surroundings and loneliness, not how her partner

looks like. Jennings's poem builds up from a calm tone to an irritated

one. The first stanza of 'Absence' describes her surroundings, the

second, how she is alone and in the third, how her loneliness affects

her. The last stanza is the fiercest, much more vigorous compared to

the first stanza. "For under all the gentleness there came an

earthquake tremor" The second stanza of her poem is like the balance

between the first and last stanza. This stanza links her cheerful

images to her exasperation. "Singing an ecstasy I could not share,

played cunning in my thoughts" Jennings's poem is also more 'factual'

as she talks more about the scenery around her - "The fountains

sprayed their usual steady jet". The tone in this poem is steady, and

her anger builds gradual...

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...e landscape, colours, and

facial features to convey his heart brokenness. I liked the way Hardy

chose an aggravated tone for his poem and how he has developed it

towards the end to describe his girlfriend's face. From his poem, I

could actually feel Hardy's devastation because he even brought in the

bitter side of nature to enhance his feelings. Hardy also had a

dramatic ending where he used the alliteration "wrings with wrongs". I

also liked the way Hardy had combined all his anger and problems and

merged them into his ex-girlfriend's face. I think Hardy was

successful in using imagery by describing the surroundings in the

beginning of the poem and concluding with the surroundings as well.

Hardy's choice of language was also appropriate to describe his

emotions. All in all, I think Hardy was very successful in using vivid

imagery to portray his feelings.