Study guide
A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy analysis (Grade 9)
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- WJEC EDUQAS
Indepth notes for the WJEC English Literature (9-1) specification.
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A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy (P.13)Narrative On a foggy London evening, a wife receives news that her husband has died in the Boer War in South
Africa. The next day, the postman brings a letter written by her husband before he died, looking
forward to the summer they would share when he would return.
Contexts Written in 1899 about the Boer War, fought in South Africa between 1880 and 1881. The poem talks
about thick fog which was common to London in the late nineteenth century. Thomas Hardy was an
English poet and novelist who often focused on tragedy in his writing.
Themes Lost Potential – the Grief – whilst other war poetry Relationships – the ‘new
juxtaposition of the focuses on the tragedy of warfare, love’ described in the final
soldier’s optimism with the Hardy describes the grief of a stanza emphasises the love
reality is jarring and widower learning of her husband’s shared between husband and
emphasises the lost death. Little is said about the means wife, aggrandising the
potential as result of war. of his death. ‘tragedy’.
Literary Pathetic Fallacy – ‘tawny vapour’ is used in Foreshadowing – the imagery of the street-lamp
Devices the first and third stanza to set a sombre and that ‘glimmers cold’ ‘like a waning taper’
melancholic atmosphere. This directly contrasts foreshadows the death of her husband with the loss
the ‘summer weather’ in the final stanza, of light. This light also symbolises his hope – as
connoting optimism in imagery of ‘brake and seen in the last stanza – that is extinguished as he
burn’. dies.
Dramatic Irony – Hardy Contrast – there is a contrast between the telegram and the letter.
describes the soldier’s letter to be Whereas the telegram is ‘flashed’ and delivered by ‘a
full of ‘hoped return’ which is messenger’s knock [which] cracks smartly’, as well as being
ironic considering the audience ‘shaped so shortly’ – unsympathetic and bluntly – the soldier’s
learn he dies shortly after writing letter is ‘fresh – firm – penned in the highest feather’ and is
the letter. This naivety sparks lengthy. This acts to humanise the death of the solider whilst the
sympathy among audiences. telegram is formal and unhomely.
Key ‘Webby fold on fold’ creates a feeling of The wife is described to ‘sit’ in the first line, a
Language claustrophobia, liking it to a spider’s web. This passive verb to connote the useless and
sets the atmosphere and encapsulates how the incompleteness she feels, waiting on the postman
wife is confined while her husband fights. to deliver letters from her husband.
‘His hand, whom the worm now knows’ is ‘Fallen – in the far South Land’ is ambiguous,
exemplar of poignant imagery, building towards disclosing little about the means of the soldier’s
the poem’s anti-war message – it is unpleasant death.
and emphasises ‘the irony’.
Form and The poem has a regular ABBAB The pace of the poem changes from the second stanza, with
Meter rhyme scheme, and yet doesn’t have shorter sentence structures and thus with a snappy rhythm as
a ‘sing-song’ quality, matching the the narrative progresses, whereas the first stanza is
poem’s strongly sombre tone. descriptive, setting the mood.
Structure The poem is structured into two stanzas, titled ‘He – has fallen – in the far South Land’ is
‘The Tragedy’ and ‘The Irony’ which plays a fragmented with dashes to emphasise the
large role in conceiving the poem’s anti-war significance as well as symbolising the wife’s
message. Hardy juxtaposes ‘hoped return’ dazedness as she comes to term with the reality.
with the death in the previous stanza to make
the readers more so sympathetic.
‘Of meaning it dazes to understand’ is phrased awkwardly to reflect how the wife feels ‘dazed’ and
confused.
Compare Mametz Wood by Owen Sheers Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
s with…
Quotations to remember
She sits in the tawny vapour […] webby fold on fold
Like a waning taper
A messenger’s knock cracks smartly Though shaped so shortly:
Flashed new is in her hand He – has fallen – in the far South Land…
Of meaning it dazes to understand
[…] the fog hangs thicker, His hand, whom the worm now knows:
Fresh – firm – penned in highest feather – In the summer weather,
Page-full of his hoped return, And of new love that they would learn.
[…] brake and burn
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