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. 

     Talk about a depressing poem!! I thought my breakup wasn't good but clearly Thomas Hardy was having a much harder time than I was. There is soo much to look at in this poem that my brain is kind of just buzzing around. To start, the words Hardy uses aren't exaclty pleasant. But I really do like his word choices! The words he picks really makes the poem and helps with the after-effect. Ok, so, the couple is at a pond-not a lake, not a river, not the ocean. A pond: an area of water that stands still. No movement and when I think of ponds I think of the icky green junk on the top of the water. I think of frogs too which makes me happy but that's the opposite direction that this poem goes in. The pond is still like the relationship the speaker is in. There is no moving part. Secondly, it's winter. A winter pond, probably frozen over, the air is probably cold, there are a few dead leaves left, and the sun is white. With the pond being frozen over, the life in the pond has gone to the bottom and there is a chance of ice on top. The leftover dead leaves resemble the life that was once there and the memories of it. The speaker's memories are with him or her, but they are no longer good and living. With the white sun, the situation can be innocent. That's interesting because everything else seems to be dead and already over while the sun is innocent. Kind of counteracting each other, yes?

     The line that boggles me is "The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing." Basically, the speaker is saying that even the smile that used to give him joy means absolutely nothing anymore. Ouch! I mean when I look at someone that I used to have feelings for and he is smiling I smile too! I don't think to myself, "Oh, he's smiling. He's dead to me." No! I think about all the good things we once had. Have you noticed that? Maybe it's just me, but the people who are in my life seem to focus on the bad things that happen, not the good. I don't see how one can just forget the good and only take the bad. And then not being completely dead and having the strength to die?! What?! The speaker is pretty harsh! And then it's followed by a "grin of bitterness." Who does that?! Well, ok I just thought of something. Evil people do that. They grin when they have done something bad or evil. So the speaker is evil and sly.  

     I'm also getting a feeling that the speaker has been hurt by love. If the speaker wanted to remember all the good times he or she had with his or her lover, he or she wouldn't be comparing it to death. The speaker will not be able to love the same again and will have trouble loving again. He or she is clearly very hurt and affected by this end. The speaker is now living life thinking about this one breakup. The speaker is living in "Neutral Tones!"