Comparing the poems Neutral Tones and Absence Essay -- English Literat

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... ...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.