Perspectives

To enhance your understanding of “The Voice” by Thomas Hardy and engage in a meaningful dialogue about the text, it is useful to put the poem into perspective by addressing the questions in the extra material from Wider Contexts.

Periodical perspective

The poem is part of a collection published shortly after the first wife of Thomas Hardy died. Note, however, that poems are a form of fiction and we can never equate the real-life poet with the lyrical speaker in poems. This speaker is, at most, an alter-ego of the poet. Even so, it is clear that the poem was inspired by the poet’s late wife. Do you feel knowing the background of the poem has helped you better understand it?

Thematic perspective

As we have mentioned, the poem is about death, versions of reality and the past. Do you believe the loss of a loved one can bring a person on the edge of madness, unable to differentiate between reality and imagination? Can you think of other literary works that portray such a situation? Do you feel the poet has succeeded to convey these themes in an attractive way? What did you like best about the way the poem was written?

Comparison with “Stop All the Clocks” by W.H. Auden

In “The Voice”, a first person-narrator addresses the spirit (the voice) of his dead wife. In his appeal, he recalls past times spent with this woman. Furthermore, he is now constantly under the impression that she is calling him from another realm, though he questions the reality of what he hears.

In “Stop All the Clocks”, a speaker also uses direct address to grieve the loss of a loved man, during his funeral. The speaker in the poem is so saddened and desperate, that he demands impossible things of an unnamed audience. He wants the entire world to mourn the loss of his lover, including natural elements:

“The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.” (p. 95, ll. 15-17)

When you discuss “The Voice” and “Stop All the Clocks”, it is important to note the following similarities and differences:

• Both texts are organised in four quatrains, but the rhyme and rhythm schemes differ. In “The Voice”, the rhyme pattern is abab, while in “Stop All the Clocks” it is aabb. Furthermore, “The Voice” follows a dactylic tetrameter, while Auden’s text mixes iambic pentameter with iambic hexameter, trochees and anapaests. 
• Both texts are a direct address coming from a first person narrator with the occasion of losing someone dear, a lover. In “The Voice”, the speaker grieves the loss of a woman. In Auden’s poem it is implied that it was a man who has died, though it is not known for sure.
• However, the target audience differs. In “The Voice” the narrator addresses the spirit of the dead woman, while in “Stop All the Clocks” the speaker talks to a larger audience of mourners.
• “The Voice” is both a poem of grief and hope. The speaker still feels the presence of his loved one. In “Stop All the Clocks”, on the other hand, there is no sense of hope, only never-ending sorrow.
• Lastly, both speakers in the poems seem to suffer from mental distress, being on the edge of sanity. In “The Voice”, this manifests through auditory hallucinations, while in “Stop All the Clocks” the speaker seems to have forgotten what is possible and what is not, demanding impossible things both from the mundane world and from the natural world.