Works of Thomas Hardy discussion
Poetry
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Neutral Tones
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Sorry to post this one a bit late! The bitterness in this one is almost overpowering, but I like some of the imagery. I'll let others respond first, and then I'll post my own reactions.What does everyone think?
It has been a while since I read this poem, so when I read it again this evening, I immediately thought this must be an early poem of his youth. I was happy to learn that it was — mostly because I wanted to see if I could confirm the youthful voice and tone. It was written in 1867. It is anything but neutral, I would say, and it harkens to his early poem Hap — distinct, cutting, aggrieved, and decidedly emphatic.
"Neutral Tones" is a biting, sad poem about the end of a relationship, and love that has died. The coldness of winter, a dead smile, and the color gray add to a chilly, dying feeling. While gray and white may be neutral colors or tones, their feelings are burning with bitterness.
Mod
Then, right away, the sun is "white" - which feels wrong - and the sun is being scolded by God. That's quite interesting too. Makes me wonder, are God and the Sun arguing? And what is more powerful, God or the Sun? As the poem goes on, we come to realize there are two unhappy (ex?)lovers standing by the pond, and (for me) their relationship is echoed by whatever is also happening between God and the Sun. But maybe that's stretching my interpretation too far :-)
This poem definitely makes one cautious about ever falling in love. So much bitterness. I really loved these lines:
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing…
I can easily see the bitter smile turning into a bird and flying away. What an image that is!
Mod
Odd words jump off the page at you starving, tedious, lost, die, ominous, fallen, deadest, bitterness, deceives, keen, die, wrings, wrong ... even the sun is curst. It seems relentless and makes me want to run away to his other nature poetry. Such a deceptive title too ... these tones are anything but "neutral", as John said.
Great choice though, thanks! Linking now.
Wonderful thoughts everyone!John, the irony of the title struck me as well, and I agree that it has the feeling of a younger man. There's nothing sober about it.
Connie, that's exactly how I read it as well. I like the way you express it!
Bridget, I love your thoughts, especially about God and the sun. It is such a curious idea of the sun being scolded. It does seem to be a reflection of what is happening with the couple.
There are a couple other meanings for "chidden" in my unabridged dictionary, but I was going with scolding as the meaning too. And I guess I had assumed that he was imagining the sun was pale (white) for being scolded, presumably because it had been shining so brightly at such a sad time? I took this as a kind of wild hyperbole, as though the situation is so bad that even God acknowledges the sadness of it? I have no idea if I'm reading it correctly though.
And I liked that smile/bird image you pointed out also; it's so surreal and unusual that I find it compelling. I can kind of imagine it too.
Jean, I had passed this one over before because it's so bitter; it's a lot to take. But like Bridget, I do find it powerul in its own way. I don't blame you for wanting to take refuge! :)
"We stood by a pond that winter day,And the sun was white"
I read this beginning of Neutral Tones as a precise and colorless description of a winter day, and I speculate from the rest of the poem that the time of day is early evening, when the day comes to an end, yet before colors tinge the sky. I have read in science blogs that the color of the sun IS ACTUALLY white, because of the way light is scattered in physics. Hardy would not have known that fact, but he would have observed that the sun often appears white at dawn and late afternoon before sunset. I think Hardy is using his naturalistic instincts here to create a precise, and colorless beginning to the poem, but a conclusion to the relationship.
The reference to God merely says to me that God was not present at this meeting of the two lovers. It is a deeply painful poem, and if the reader has ever had a love relationship end, the images ring familiar.
In my mind the speaker is a man and the woman he faces is utterly bored with him, with deadly smile and grin of bitterness.
"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles of years ago" . . . is a phrase that rends my heart! The woman looks upon him as she would a tedious riddle that had been too often repeated. This is as complete dismissal of another person as can be imagined. Not only is there an absence of feeling, the feelings engendered seem to be as dry as dust.
Actually, as I re-read the poem, there is no clear indication whether the narrator is a man or a woman. At first I assumed Hardy was the suffering lover, but the poem can be read from the perspective of either a man or a woman. Either way, love has died.
This strikes me, as others have mentioned, as having much negative emotion. The difficult part is we don't know who is speaking to whom or much about what has preceeded this interaction.Given that, and the world choice Bionic Jean aptly points out, this is more about conveying an emotion than telling a story.
Dark or light hearted, a poem that has emotional weight seems more memorable than mere description.
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.