Analysis of Neutral Tones
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
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 solved 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.
Scheme | ABBA XCCX DEED FGGF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 111011101 0011111111 0011110101 1110111001 111101111 10100101101 0111011101 111011101 011111011 010111111 0011100111 11100101 11110111 01111111 1100111001 00111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 737 |
Words | 129 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 126 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 176 Views
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"Neutral Tones" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36438/neutral-tones>.
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