 is in her hand Of meaning it dazes to understand Though shaped so shortly: He-has fallen-in the far South Land … ” The instantaneous crack of the messenger destroys all her thoughts. Her mind is frozen and she fails to think properly. The little happiness that was inside her has been destroyed by a single knock. It is as though she knows for definite that it is the telegram boy’s knock and no one else’s.
This shows that the woman was slightly pessimistic and did not believe entirely that her husband would return. At first she is so shocked that she fails to understand what the letter says, but after coming back to her senses she reads the dreaded news of her husband’s death. The second part of the poem is the where Hardy uses his irony. The most ironic thing about the second part is that the woman receives a page full letter from her husband of his hoped return, “Page-full of his hoped return”. Another ironic thing about the second part is that “the fog hangs thicker”, although the woman is receiving good news.
The fog hanging thicker again reflects the feelings felt by the woman of her having lost hope completely and there not being a way back for her to see her husband. More irony is shown when Hardy writes, “Fresh – firm – penned in the highest feather”. This is ironic because of the fact that it does not matter as to whether the letter was written in highest feather or not because the man is dead, “his hand who the worm now knows”. This adds to the irony also. The same hand that had written using the highest feather is now worth nothing and a mere corpse for the worms to feed off.
As winter shows dullness and gloominess, its opposite, summer, seems to have a more cheery mood to it. “And of home-planned jaunts by brake and burn In the summer weather, And of new love that they would learn. ” This shows that the summertime was a time for the husband and wife to go out with each other and make ‘new love’ as the poem suggests. This could either mean that the couple had a little fallout between them and would settle it by making new love or it could mean that they wanted to spark off their married life once again, as soon as the war was over.
The idea of summer weather and love together has also been mentioned in Edith Nesbit’s In Hospital. “Beneath green leaves bright-fluttered by the wing Of fleeting, beautiful, immortal Spring, I should have said, ‘I love you,’ and your eyes Have said, ‘I, too … ‘ the gods saw otherwise. ” The poem, A Wife in London has been set out in two parts, each part containing two stanzas. The first is the day that she receives the bad news and the second part is the day that she receives her husband’s letter. Each stanza contains five lines with an ABBAB rhyme scheme. The poet uses certain words to catch the reader’s attention.
In this particular poem the first line of the second stanza reads, “A messenger’s knock cracks smartly”. The word ‘cracks’ has been used to catch the reader’s attention and also to break the silence of the poem that was present until that moment. The poet wanted to make the reader feel that sudden reaction and so uses onomatopoeia to grab the attention. I think the main theme and purpose of this poem is to show how people who are many miles away from the war suffer. It shows the anxiety and restlessness that is felt by family members eagerly waiting to hear news of their loved ones.
It is a very emotional poem but also shows the way in which Fate plays with its victims. It first shows the woman receiving the bad news, but what is worse is the fact that she is once again reminded of her husband through his letter arriving the next day. I think the poem is an excellent way of portraying the lives of people who are at home. It shows that there are many people that suffer during war times. People think the soldiers are the only victims but the real and biggest victims are those who are living restlessly, desperately waiting to hear of their loved ones.
I agree with the ideas of the poet and fell that this poem should be read by those who feel that war is something far away f