Extended commentary of ‘I look into My Glass’ by Thomas Hardy Essay

On the Title Negligible information takes first line a common feature.Themes m, The manner that Time works, Age (emotional)Overall Structure Three English quatrains, with an alternate rhyming scheme this makes it more concentrated than a typical English quatrain. This compactness is a key feature in both literal and emotional sense. It is a very short verse form, but details a series of incomprehensible emotional reflections.Difficult language nones* Glass is an archaic (and now poetic) word for mirror.* The phrase would divinity it came to pass means I wish that God had done X or had let X happen. In the poem, he wishes that God had let his heart wither, in terms of emotional feeling, exclusively as his body had.* Equanimity means of calm temperament to be at peace spiritually, mentally etc.First Stanza Notes portly presents us with a somatogenic establishment of his component I look into my glass/ And view my wasting flake off.This is the only physical description/de tail in the poem consequently it is of great importance. Hardy uses his wasting skin to relate to his heart his emotional deportment. Would God it came to pass/ My heart had shrunk as thin. In short, the ikon wishes that his emotions, his passions, his loves had shrunken or reduced in strength at the same rate as his physical entity/appearance. Hardy uses enjambment in the line skin/ And say to add emphasis, along with the presence of direct speech. Perhaps the enjambment keeps the reader in suspense? Note the reference to the Almighty a unless note of emphasis. Emphasis is very important in such a concentrated poem.The reader is strained to very rapidly deduce the personas emotions. He wishes that his emotions would fade perhaps he cant face the pain of rejection? In any case, it is implied that his emotional life is still very a great deal alive it has yet to wither.Second Stanza Notes For then, I, undistrest opens the second stanza. This is a complex line For then means because, due to the inverted commas around the I. Undistrest is an archaic recite of un-distressed meaning not worried. Note Hardys use of this word (diction). Distress is an intrinsically negative word but by lay a negative prefix it becomes positive. However, the presence of two negative words in the line reflects oddly on its meaning and the impression given.Hardy does this for a reason. For then, I, undistressed/ By paddy wagon grown cold to me/ Could lonely wait my endless rest/ With equanimity. Very simply, Hardys persona is stating that, if his heart had shrunk, he would be able to wait out his life with equanimity with a calm temperament. However, the presence of the For then makes this stanza conditional, over again implying that the persona is without equanimity hes not brilliantly happy. He is losing emotional contact with those whom he still cares for. The emotional entities, contrasting the physical ones described in the first stanza, are once again reflected by enjambment Undistressed/ By hearts grown cold to me.Some key techniques/ words in this stanza* Could lonely wait my endless rest. lonely, due to the hearts grown cold to him, obviously, but critics query the meaning of endless rest. Does is refer to death? The personas remaining life certainly wont be endless. What does Hardy mean by this? Could it merely be a forced rhyme for undistressed?* With equanimity Again, perhaps this is another forced rhyme, yet the calm metre reflects the expressed calmness. However (this applies to the entirety of the stanza), the readers association of intrinsic goodness with calmness is reversed by the conditional nature of the poem. Hardys persona wants to be calm and have his emotional life wither, as to reduce the pain of loss a confusing idea in itself but this has not happened.Third Stanza Hardy arrives at the crux of the poem, with a comment on the cruel nature of Time. Time is personified as an enemy of the human condition it Part steals, l ets part abide, apparently to make the persona grieve. Time removes (part steals) the personas physical properties his skin wastes etc. but Time lets his emotional passions remain intact making relationships more painful as they deteriorate in old age.Hardy end his poem with the lines And Time shakes this fragile frame at eve/ With throbbings of noontide. These are vitally important lines. Within them, Hardy compares his personas life with a single day diurnal imagery. They include a great deal of emotive imagery shakes and with throbbings. The latter reflects the throbbing of a heart. Hardy, to explain the metaphor, states that his persona is reminded at the eve (end) of his life by the mental throbbing of his emotional height his pinnacle of passion, to put it poetically. Critics have called it a very emotionally open(a) ending, with a somewhat forced rhyme-scheme once again. You decide.