Neutral Tones exposes Hardy's dark assessment of human relationships.
In Neutral Tones, Thomas Hardy frankly exposes the slow death of a relationship, and all the insecurity it entails. A man living in a time of great social change, reading Hardy’s work can often make you think he had lost faith in the ties that bind humanity together. Here we examine four Neutral Tones quotes that may indicate Hardy’s depression.
frankly honestly
insecurity (state of not being safe/source of mental worry)
entails involves
humanity people/(the kindness of people)
indicate point to/show
The Poem - Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy
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.
Your eyes on me were as 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.
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.
as though like
chidden criticized
ash, powder left over after burning,
rove wander
tedious tiring
to and fro back and forth
bitterness anger
thereby by that/in that way
ominous scary
keen sharp/eager/ well-developed
deceives lies to
Loss and Emptiness
“few leaves lay on the starving sod;/– They had fallen from an ash, and were gray”
Hardy’s feelings of loss and emptiness are typified by the words “few” and “starving”. The natural imagery surrounding him only serves to indicate that nature itself has become barren and derelict. Nature itself, which feeds every living creature, is “starving”. Just as Hardy feels empty and starved of feeling, his surroundings in the poem do too.
This is strengthened by his vision, which seems incapable of seeing anything in colour. Everything is monochrome in the environment the two people are in. This, or Hardy is only focussing on the monochrome elements of his surroundings. The only leaves that he sees are those of an ash tree, which aren’t green, or even brown, but grey. His choice of the word “ash” also purposefully evokes the colour grey.
Additionally, for something to become ash it must have been burnt to the point where it has lost all fuelling energy and has become extinguished. This, we can infer, is what has happened to the relationship between the two people in the poem, it has lost the ability to spark, its fuel is depleted, it has no more energy to continue.
typified shown
imagery (making mental pictures)
indicate point to/show
barren empty
derelict very irresponsible/abandoned
surroundings (things that are near and around something)
incapable (unable to do something)
the environment (the health of the Earth/the surrounding conditions)
ash powder left over after burning
purposefully (in a carefully-planned way)
evokes brings out
Additionally, Also,
extinguished put out
infer, guess,
depleted used up/reduced
Negativity
“Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove/Over tedious riddles of years ago”
Hardy believes that the unnamed woman in the poem only sees the negative side of their relationship history when she looks at him. He believes that, instead of looking at him in any loving way, she simply sees the past arguments and periods of miscommunication between them.
That her eyes “rove” presents her has being someone who cannot let go of the past, always searching and finding new ways to bring up old grievances, the “tedious riddles” that Hardy refers to. As Hardy calls these “tedious”, he puts little emphasis on them, as if they are unimportant to him. However, given that she “roves” for these tedious riddles, they are clearly important to her.
This being said, it is Hardy that feels this way, and thinks this way about the unnamed women. He is unable to see anything in her, other than his own insecurity that she is doubting him, or harbours a dislike for him.
grievance complaint
tedious tiring
emphasis on focus on
insecurity (state of not being safe/source of mental worry)
Conflict
"smile on your mouth was the deadest thing/Alive enough to have strength to die"
Here, the focus on life and death suggests a conflict in the poet. Life and death being opposites, counter balance each other, achieving a state of neutrality, or nothingness. This mirror’ Hardy’s feelings.
The woman’s smile, which would usually suggest joy and happiness, is lifeless. Hardy here may be accusing the woman of being emotionally deceptive. Perhaps to him, the woman is only pretending to smile, going through the motions as any true happiness in their relationship begins to ebb away.
It is important to note that, in this winter environment with grey fallen leaves, the “deadest” thing was a feature of the living woman, her smile. This shows that nothing is more lifeless than the feelings the two have for each other, in Hardy’s view.
Taking this smile as a metaphor for their relationship, Hardy states that it is alive enough to have the strength to die. Their relationship has no power or strength left in it, no direction or future, other than to end, to die. The last life energy of their relationship will be used to kill their relationship.
achieving (accomplishing or gaining)
lifeless dead
accusing (charging with a crime)
deceptive dishonest
Perhaps Maybe
motions movements
ebb flow
environment (surrounding conditions)
metaphor (physical thing that refers to an idea or emotion)
Resentment
"keen lessons that love deceives,/And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me/Your face, and the God curst sun.”
Approaching the end of the poem, Hardy’s tedium with love reaches a zenith, as it appears that he is completely jaded about the idea of love, and perhaps life, in general.
Later romances have only taught him that “love deceives”, therefore we can infer that after the relationship with the unnamed woman, he has engaged in unsuccessful relationships.
The relationship that left the strongest impression on him however, is that of the woman in the poem, as all his later romances make him think of her, and the grey world around him when their relationship was ending. That his thoughts of her face are in such close proximity to the “God curst” sun would suggest that he doesn’t like her very much. She is equated to everything Hardy thinks is wrong with the world.
Hardy clearly seems resentful about the way relationships were conducted in his time. He believes that love is so completely saturated with wrongness, that is it impossible to remove wrong from love.
As a poet of the later Victorian era, his views may reflect some social and religious changes that were taking place. With the rapid advancement of experimental science and the emergence of Darwinism taking place, Hardy lost his religious faith and was often described as a pessimist, both in his personal life and his writings.
That he may be tired of life is reflected in his description of the sun throughout the poem, but also in this verse. The sun, the giver of life, worshipped as god in many religions, is actually “cursed” to Hardy. Conceivably, to Hardy, life in itself is a curse, a baggage that contains pain and suffering, especially through unavoidable feelings and emotions such as love.
Love, clearly, has brought pain and suffering to Hardy. Has it brought enough pain that he is tired of life itself?
tedium boredom
zenith high point
jaded cautious
perhaps maybe
deceives lies to
infer guess
engaged in working at
close proximity closeness
equated to equaled
resentful angry
conducted in done in
era, time,
taking place happening
rapid fast
advancement (moving ahead or up)
emergence coming into view
Darwinism (believing in Charles Darwin’s ideas of evolution)
pessimist (negative person)
Conceivably Possibly
unavoidable (certain to happen)
emotions feelings of love, hate, fear, etc.
