The Voice - Poetic Method

The Voice

Poetic Method:

Narrative Voice (Point of View):

“The Voice” is written in the first person narrative, and is an attempt of Emma trying to communicate with Hardy. It is extremely critical to analyse narrative voice in this poem, as it has its title named after it. Throughout the poem, an air of ambiguity persists and the voice is unknown.

Structure and Form:

The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme and consists of four quatrains. The anapaestic metre comes away in the penultimate stanza. The quatrains show the inevitability of the passing of time, and Hardy’s consistent regularity is an attempt to rationalise and take control over it.

Genre and Style:

The poem is ominous, detached and clearly about someone’s passing. It is elegiac in style and pathetic fallacy has been deployed to add to the poetic effect.

Setting:

The only indication of setting we get in the entire poem is from the line, “Across the wet mead to me here,” – the “wet mead” could refer to an old countryside meadow which has been dampened by a shower of rain. The vague mention of this setting suggests Hardy’s love for nature and the meadow’s vastness conveys Hardy’s feeling of loneliness. Also, the “Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward,” speaks of northerly winds, making it terribly cold.

Language:

The start of the poem is with “Woman” – immediately we see Hardy’s attempted detachment from his wife, Emma. The usage of “Woman” shows the struggle Hardy undergoes; he cannot fathom the death of a loved one. Towards the end of the first line, Hardy writes, “How you call to me, call to me,” – the repetition echoes throughout the poem and implies desperation and urgency of the ‘voice’ that is talking to him. The lines, “Saying that now you are not as you were / When you had changed from the one who was all to me,” does not use any punctuation until the end of the sentence, and is quite a long-winded way to say he, Hardy, at present, loves Emma as he did earlier, rather than the negligence he showed before her death. The long, unending sentence suggests Hardy’s entangled emotions and feelings. It is also interesting to note that this line uses an accusatory tone, almost as if Hardy is blaming Emma for her own death.

The second stanza of the poem talks about Hardy and Emma’s courtship and makes the reader sympathise with Hardy. “Let me view you, then,” is an imperative – the demanding tone could show Hardy’s determination to remember the Emma of the past. The “then” holds significance of the time gone by; the prime of Hardy’s life. “Even to the original air-blue gown!” forms the pathos of the poem, where the reader empathises with Hardy’s mournful state. The “air-blue” gown suggests a certain pureness and innocence about Emma, while the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence gives away Hardy’s excitement and genuine happiness to be able to view the Emma of the old.

The third stanza begins with a question – “Or is it the breeze,” – the ‘or’ forms a pivotal point of the poem, where he questions his own belief of whether it really is a voice that is calling him, or the wind. The phrase “to me here,” in the second line of this stanza shows Hardy’s true state where he is marooned in life by Emma’s demise. He again employs euphemisms such as “dissolved”, “Heard no more” and “wan wistlessness,” – the consonance of the “s” furthers the lifeless image of the life-death divide. The stanza ends with the phrase “far or near?” – the question justifies Hardy’s oblivion and the existence of the afterlife.

The final stanza of the poem results in the breakdown of the metre and rhyme scheme used in the poem, and is perhaps the most visual and cinematic piece of the poem. The caesura after “Thus I;” shows Hardy’s loss for words, while the alliteration of “faltering forward,” emphasises Hardy’s reluctance in moving forward, as he is directionless. “Leaves around me falling,” is highly significant both literally and metaphorically – the “leaves” could signify the life of a loved one, in this context, Emma. It also could be said that it exposes Hardy’s awareness of the seasons – the autumnal effect signifies the end of the life-cycle and death. “Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward,” – this refers to northerly winds, which are extremely cold - this could also be interpreted as the frozen heart Hardy now has. The alliteration of “thin through the thorn norward” furthers the soft yet striking ‘voice’ of the wind, or, Emma. Again, this poem has an ambiguous ending; “And the woman calling” leaves us wondering whose voice it is that Hardy really listens to.