To be scolded/criticized – the speaker imagines that God has scolded the sun. This adds to the bleak mood of the poem and hints that the speaker sees everything in a negative way ‘White’ is associated with pale/unhappiness. The ‘sun’ is drained of warmth and colour – reflects how the love has drained from their relationship Pathetic fallacy – they are emotionally cold towards each other Verb – lack of physical movement contributes to lifeless atmosphere Drained of colour Colour Without strong qualities Something without warmth, cold and emotion. It is the opposite of colourful Alliteration – emphasises how the leaves are still and unmoving Eyes are traditionally shown to be a positive feature but they are shown as negative here Associated with death. This also links to ash from a fire – their relationship has died/burnt out Alliteration/personification – emphasises the impression of suffering – the lifeless ground reflects their dying relationship She was once interested in him To travel/wander – reflects the boredom the figure feels as she is no longer interested Juxtaposition – a smile is usually associated with joy – this emphasises her complete lack of feelings towards him The figure chose to let her smile die – maybe she let the love between them die as well Game imagery – love should be fun and played but their but their relationship became ‘tedious’ and ‘lost’ Simile – birds are associated with freedom – imagery of a bird flying away, suggesting the end of the relationship Sense of betrayal – the speaker makes a distrustful generalisation that all love is deceptive Sharp/strong – these lessons have been painful Ellipsis – represents the time when the relationship came to an end Alliteration – emphasises the speaker’s pain and anguishThe ‘t’ in ‘curst’ is a harsher sound than ‘chidden’ – this hints that the speaker has become more bitterCircular structure – the poem begins and ends by a pond – this shows that the memory of that day still affects him One tree – represents loneliness Neutral Tones 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 grey.Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove Over tedious riddles of 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 greyish leaves.Thomas Hardy Other experiences of deceitful love remind him of this incident by the pond – perhaps it was the first time he has experienced it
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