#Thomas Hardy: Neutral Tones

[haveyoureadthispoem-poll]

"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…"

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

[freakovermorrow]

[dramasetter]

Alive enough to have strength to die

[apoemadaykeepsthehoesaway]

Neutral Tones

- Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

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 the 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.

[poem-today]

A poem by Thomas Hardy

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 gray.

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 grayish leaves.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

[bwthornton]

Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy #poems #poetry #thomashardy #poetrycommunity #poetrylovers

[origami-butterfly]

*I left out my three least favourites because there's 15 on the anthology, but those three were: Climbing my Grandfather (Andrew Waterhouses), Love's Philosophy (Percy Shelley) and Before You Were Mine (Carol Ann Duffy)

Power and Conflict version of this poll

[toast-idk]

I feel like "Neutral Tones" by Thomas Hardy fits Kit and Ty so well:

"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 poem is about seeing someone you once loved again, it's focused on the loss of that love and the inability of the speaker to fully move on, it really reminds me of Kit and Ty seeing each other again in sobh after so long, although hopefully their dynamic in twp will be more positive!

[araekniarchive]

hello! <33 i love your web weavings because it's so well placed and easy to find from your theme tag! I always come back here for character inspo or ship inspo :D

for the request: can i have something eyes themed since there's not a lot! either starry eyes (hopeful, joyful) or eyes are the window to the soul, thank you in advance <3

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, The Princess de Broglie (1843)

Thomas Hardy, Neutral Tones

Corneliu Baba, Self-Portrait (date unknown)

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Henriette Browne, La Religieuse (1859)

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Steve McCurry, ‘Afghan Girl’ (1984) for National Geographic; the subject was later identified as Sharbat Gula

Anne Sexton, misquoted from a letter to Anne Clarke, written July 3rd, 1964

Orest Kiprinsky, Self-Portrait (1820)

Tarjei Vesaas, The Boat in the Evening

Berthe Morisot, Julie Daydreaming (1894)

John Crowley, Little, Big

Umberto Boccioni, Self-Portrait (1905)

Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon (trans. J. Winkler)

Manny Librodo

William Shakespeare, Othello

Édouard Manet, Victorine Meurent (1862)

[ef-1]

Thomas Hardy said Neutral Tones, baby

[archonofdivinity]

love and relationships i love you neutral tones by thomas hardy fucking save me

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENGLISH PAPER I DONT KNOW WHETHER TO BE HAPPY OR TERRIFIED

[newvision]

— Thomas Hardy, from Neutral Tones

[godzilla-reads]

[07.03.2020] Since I haven’t been to school in a couple years, but I’m planning on going back, I decided to analyze some of my favorite Hardy poems.

[mauriacs]

neutral tones, thomas hardy

[bwthornton]

Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy 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 gray. 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 grayish leaves. #thomashardy #neutraltones #poetry #poems

[myths-knives-aesthetic]

Neutral Tones BY THOMAS HARDY

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 gray. 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 grayish leaves.