A Comparison Of When We Two Parted And Neutral Tones

‘When we two parted’ and ‘Neutral Tones’ both present the idea of negative relationships, but do so in an array of similar and contrasting ways. In ‘When we two parted’, Byron recalls the day he and his lover parted, showcasing his strong personal feelings of heartbreak on the incident as his poem is written in lyric form with an octet structure. Whereas, in ‘Neutral tones’, Hardy recalls the day he and his lover ended their relationship, as their love for one another had died out, using enjambment to show how his lover was thoughts were no longer present, when with him.
Firstly, the idea of negative relationships is portrayed in both poems using an anaphora. In ‘Neutral tones’ a “pond edged with greyish leaves” is featured at both the start and the end of the poem. The adjective “grey” is used to reflect that there is death all around them, even in nature, as their relationship comes to its final stage. Moreover ‘neutral’ colours such as “ash”, not only have been used to create a melancholy mood but to also create a double entendre to connote that the fire in their relationship has run out, meaning that they are no longer passionate to one another.
Similarly, in ‘When we two parted’, the anaphora, “silence and tears” is used at the

In ‘When we two parted’, the phrase “the dew of the morning felt chill on my brow-it felt like a warning of what I feel now”, uses natural imagery and foreshadowing to show that the “dew” was like a cold sweat, an omen of suffering o follow. Moreover, “dew” could also symbolise Mother Nature’s tears as she too felt misery as she watched their relationship come to a parting. Furthermore, “dew” could also symbolise the start of coldness as their relationship went on, reflecting a premonition of death. This is a typical description of Byron, as since he was a major figure in the romantic period, uses of overtly emotional natural imagery was especially