Hello, everybody, and a really warm welcome to today's lesson! My name is Ms. Halliday and I will be teaching you today.

I feel really lucky to have so many of you joining me, as we're going to be studying one of my favourite poems in the "Eduqas Poetry Anthology," which is Thomas Hardy's "A Wife in London." I'm really looking forward to sharing this poem with you and discussing some of its key themes and moments.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Understanding "A Wife in London." And by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how Thomas Hardy presents the devastating consequences of war.

But first, here are some keywords that you will need in order to unlock today's learning, starting with the word foreboding, which means when we get that really awful feeling that something terrible is about to happen.

Now in this poem, a wife receives a telegram, and a telegram is a piece of paper with a message on sent by a telegraph.

Now Thomas Hardy, the poet, was very critical of war, and he felt that it was a futile waste of human life, and futile means pointless.

He felt that war was devastating not only for the soldiers, but also for their families back home.

And devastating means highly destructive or damaging.

And finally, Hardy felt that war was a tragedy for humanity.

And a tragedy is an event that causes great distress or suffering.

As I said, these are really important keywords that you absolutely will need for today's lesson.

So if you think you might forget any of the definitions, then please feel free to pause the video and jot any of them down now.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to start by reading the poem and discussing some ideas and some of our perceptions of the poem.

We're then going to move on to trying to understand why the poem was written by examining some of the context.

But first of all, let's start by reading the poem.

We're going to begin today's lesson with a discussion, and I would like you to think, well, who is it do you think that war has the biggest impact on? Do you think it's the individuals who fight in the war, or do you think it's their friends or family? Why? And I'm going to ask you to justify your answer by explaining why you think what you think.

So what I'd like you to do now is pause the video while you discuss this question, either in groups if you're able to, or you can consider the question on your own independently if you are working alone today.

Pause the video and have those discussions or considerations now.

Fantastic discussions.

And I think that what we can all agree on is the fact that war is really hard and has a massive, massive impact on the lives of everybody involved, whether that's the soldiers or whether that's the family or the loved ones of the soldiers.

It has a devastating impact on everybody who is involved.

So thank you for those discussions.

Brilliant start to the lesson.

So before we read the poem, I think it's always useful to have a bit of a consideration of the title of the poem and try to make predictions about what you think the poem might be about.

So today's poem is called "A Wife in London," and I've given you some questions here to help you unpick the title and think a little bit more about what you think the title might mean and therefore what the poem might be about.

So first of all, the title is "A Wife in London." Why might the title not be "The Wife in London"? What's the difference between the "The" and the "A"? Secondly, whose wife might this be? And thirdly, why do you think her location is specified in the title? So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video and try to make predictions based on the title about what the poem is about, using the questions on the screen now.

And remember, we are studying this poem in context with some other war poems. So there's a little bit of a hint to help you out.

Again, these discussions can take place in groups or you can just consider the questions independently if that's how you would prefer to work.

Pause the video and consider the three questions on screen now.

Fantastic suggestions there.

Some really interesting and thought-provoking ideas.

So really well done.

Some great inference work.

So in terms of things that you might have said, well, in terms of the difference between "The" and "A," well, perhaps the poet is making the point that this poem could be about any wife and not just one wife because if we use that word "The," it's singular.

A wife could be, it's very anonymous.

It could be about any wife in London.

And therefore that could give the poem a universal meaning.

And what that means is it could apply to any wife in London.

Secondly, as this poem is part of our war cluster, as I said, we are studying it in context with other war poems, this wife could be a soldier's wife.

And finally, the poet might have specified the wife's location perhaps to show her isolation.

She's just one person in a huge, huge city.

And it could also show the physical distance between her and what we assume might be her soldier husband.

I did hear some of those ideas come through in your discussions.

So really well done.

Great prediction skills.

So we're going to read the poem now in full.

Then, we're going to discuss some of the key ideas and moments in more detail.

I'd now like you to open up your anthology and get ready to follow along as I read the poem to you in full.

I'm going to start reading now.

So this poem is called "A Wife in London." Part one is called "The Tragedy." "She sits in the tawny vapour That the Thames-side lanes have uprolled, Behind whose webby fold on fold Like a waning taper The street-lamp glimmers cold.

A messenger's knock cracks smartly, Flashed news in her hand Of meaning it dazes to understand Though shaped so shortly, He, he has fallen, in this far South Land." And part two is called "The Irony." " 'Tis the morrow, the fog hangs thicker, The postman nears and goes, A letter is brought whose lines disclose By the firelight flicker His hand, whom the worm now knows, Fresh, firm, penned in highest feather, Page-full of his hoped return, And of home-planned jaunts of brake and burn In the summer weather, And of new love that they would learn." A really impactful and powerful poem there from Thomas Hardy.

I hope you enjoyed it.

So whenever you read a poem for the first time, it can be really useful to ask yourself questions like the ones on screen now to help you form a basic level of understanding before you re-read the poem for the second, third, fourth, fifth, and a hundredth time because it's actually really useful to read a poem several times to understand it.

So these are some of the questions that it's really important to ask yourself whenever you read a poem.

What are your first impressions of the poem? Do you like it? Why, and why not? How did the poem make you feel? And again, why? And what might the story of the poem be? What is it about? So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you consider these questions in relation to the poem that we've just read together.

Again, this can be done in groups or it can be done independently.

It's up to you.

Pause the video and off you go to discuss those questions now.

Fantastic discussions.

And it was lovely to hear so many of you saying that you actually feel really sorry for the wife because this must have been such an awful experience for her to go through.

So let's have a look at the poem in a lot more detail.

So what I'm going to ask you to do in just a moment is re-read the first stanza.

But before you do that, I'd like to clarify some of the vocabulary that you might not be familiar with from this stanza.

So first of all, in the first line, tawny vapour.

That is an orange or yellowish, brownish fog.

A waning taper is a candle that is fading or burning out.

So what I'd like you to do, once you've re-read the first stanza, is consider, well, who might the she be? What is the weather like in the beginning of the poem? And what kind of atmosphere is created in stanza one? Again, you could consider this independently and jot some ideas down if you like, or you could consider it in groups, whatever you prefer.

Pause the video and consider the three questions on screen now.

Fantastic discussions, and really lovely to hear that many of you thinking that that she could be the wife from the poem's title.

Secondly, we understand that the weather is foggy and we really get the sense of darkness from the waning taper.

The fact that that candle is burning out suggests that it's going to be dark soon.

And finally, in terms of the atmosphere, well, the poet creates a really ominous and foreboding atmosphere in stanza one.

And if you remember, that word foreboding means when we get the feeling that something really awful is about to happen.

So massive well done if that came through in your discussions.

Really great comprehension of stanza one.

We're now going to do the same thing with stanza two and have a look at trying to work out what the poet is saying and what the story is in stanza two.

But first, I just want to clarify that that word dazes means a state of shock and confusion.

So the first question I'd like you to consider with regards to stanza two is, well, what is it that the wife receives? What is the wife told? And how do you think the wife feels and why? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider those questions in relation to stanza two.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And well done because pretty much all of you managed to identify that the wife receives a telegram which informs her of her husband's death at war, which is really heartbreaking.

I feel very sorry for the wife in this moment.

And when the wife receives this news, she could probably feels quite confused, shocked, and probably quite numb in the first instance because she's only just learned that her husband has died at war.

Now what I'd like you to consider next is, well, what do you think about the way in which the wife receives the news of her husband's death? Do you think that this would be a nice way to receive it? Do you think it would be an awful way to receive it? Do you think it's a fair way to receive that kind of news? I'm just interested to hear your thoughts here.

So what I'd like you to do again is pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you now.

Fantastic discussions, and I think most people saying that this will be a really brutal and quite difficult way to receive such heartbreaking news.

So thank you for those opinions.

Brilliant work.

So onto the third stanza here, where we get this new sub-title of "The Irony." And we're going to consider the sub-titles in just a moment.

But first, I'd like to clarify this word disclose, which means to make something hidden known.

Now the questions I'd like you to consider in relation to this stanza are, well, what do you notice about time in this stanza? What do you notice about the weather? And who is the letter from that the wife receives? So again, it's time for you to pause the video while you discuss this with the people around you or just consider it independently, whichever you would prefer today.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas.

So pause the video and off you go to discuss that now.

Again, some really fantastic considerations of those questions there and some really perceptive answers.

So in terms of time, we notice that time has actually shifted to the next day.

So the wife wakes up and we're told 'tis the morrow.

So we're told, at the beginning of the stanza, 'tis the morrow, which is the poet setting the scene and making it clear that time has moved on.

Now in terms of the weather, we are actually told that the fog was even thicker on the next day.

And this creates an even more foreboding atmosphere in the lead-up to the wife receiving yet more news.

But this time, it's in the form of a letter.

And this letter is from her recently-deceased husband, which is just really heartbreaking.

Okay, can you imagine how that would feel to receive that in that moment? It would just be utterly, utterly heartbreaking.

So well done if you got that in your discussion and let's hear what the letter says.

So in the fourth stanza, obviously, the wife has received the letter from her deceased husband and we're told that it was penned in the highest feather.

Now that word penned means written.

Now secondly, the word jaunts in the third line and brake and burn are also significant words that you might not be familiar with.

So I'll just clarify those for you now.

So a jaunt is a short break made for pleasure or a short journey made for pleasure.

A brake is a stream.

And a burn is some greenery.

So here, he's imagining taking her away, perhaps to the countryside, for a short break together.

And the questions I would like you to discuss now are, well, what can we work out about the way in which this letter was written? And what are the contents of the letter? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider those two questions, either independently or with the people around you.

If you have your anthology in front of you, it might be an idea to make some notes on there.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

Really well done and fantastic to see some of you making these notes in your anthologies.

So it's lovely to see you making full use of those anthologies.

So in terms of what we can work out about the way in which the letter was written, well, we can infer that the letter has actually been written with the utmost care and attention because it was penned in the highest feather.

And that shows us really how much time and effort and energy the soldier has put into this letter home to his wife.

Now this is really touching and actually quite heartbreaking because this letter, if you imagine where it was written, it was probably written somewhere in a trench in very difficult and challenging conditions.

So actually, the soldier has made a really special effort for his wife here, and that's really sad, especially after we learned that he has already passed away.

And secondly, the letter talks about the soldier's hopes for the future with his wife.

He speaks of trips away and romance in the summer.

There might also be the slight suggestion of him looking forward to having a family with his wife because he talks about that new love that they might share and that might be the new love of a child, in terms of a kind of love that they have never experienced before, the love of their child.

And I just think this stanza, particularly, really breaks my heart.

Because I just think it shows what hope these soldiers had when they were away at war and how optimistic they were feeling about winning the war and returning home to their families.

And it's just really heartbreaking when this kind of optimism is contrasted with that awful, awful news that we've already received in stanza two.

So it's a very, very heartbreaking poem and it always makes me really sad whenever I read it.

So what I'd like to do now is just check your understanding of what it is that happens in each stanza.

So what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to match the stanza up to the summary of what happens in the stanza.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you read the stanza summaries and match them up to the correct-numbered stanza.

Pause the video and off you go to do that now.

And a massive well done if you identified that stanza one sees a wife sitting alone in London, waiting for news of her husband, who is away at war.

Stanza two shows us a wife receiving a telegram, notifying her of her husband's death at war.

In stanza three, the wife unfortunately receives a letter from her husband at war who has already died.

And in stanza four, the contents of the letter are revealed.

The husband writes about looking forward to trips away with his wife when he returns from war.

So well done if you got all of those correct.

Brilliant understanding of the poem.

So on to the first task of the lesson now where we're going to consider the subheadings of the poem in a little bit more detail.

So the poem is split into two sections.

We've got "The Tragedy," which is stanzas one and two, and "The Irony," which is stanzas three and four.

And I'd like you to think about why Hardy might have split this poem in half by making notes and discussing the following questions.

What is the true tragedy of this poem? Where is the irony in this poem? And thirdly, a little bit of a debate question for you.

A pupil said, the two different sections paint two different pictures of the reality of war, tragedy and hope.

To what extent do you agree with this statement? So basically, do you think that's why the poet has decided to separate the poem into two different sections? So as I've said, I would like you to discuss this with people around you if possible.

And I would also like to see you making notes.

So you might be bullet-pointing the answers or you can write them in full sentences.

It is completely up to you how you want to lay your notes out.

It is your notes.

You can take ownership of them and present them in a way that is useful to you.

If you are unable to discuss this because you're working on your own, that's absolutely fine.

You can just complete this task independently, still making notes if you have a piece of paper in front of you.

So what I'm going to invite to do now is to pause the video while you have a go at this task.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

So pause the video and off you go to have those considerations now.

Fantastic work.

We asked our Oak pupils the same questions and here's what they had to say.

So you can compare some of your answers to some of theirs.

And if there's anything that you think might be useful for your notes, do feel free to jot our Oak pupils' ideas down.

You know, it's always good to take other people's ideas and use them, so don't be afraid to do just that if you think there is something here that might be valuable to you at some point in the future.

So as Lucas points out, the tragedy is arguably not just in the death of the husband, but the mental torment that the wife goes through, waiting for the worst news and then receiving a letter from her deceased husband after she has learned he has died.

The real tragedy of this poem is the false hope of those at home during the war.

I think that's a really interesting idea that Lucas has raised there about false hope, and this idea that they were waiting for their husbands to return home with that kind of idea that they also might not return home.

And that kind of uncertainty would've just been absolutely brutal and really difficult to come to terms with and deal with, especially when you're trying to function in your everyday life anyway.

And as Izzy adds, there is a cruel irony in the wife receiving her husband's letter after the telegram that announces his death.

The poem contrasts the hope of a returning soldier with a devastating loss of the wife who has been left behind.

And this idea of irony.

Irony is kind of a dark humour when something is almost amusing but not quite amusing.

And that's exactly what Hardy's trying to convey here.

Like you almost couldn't write this.

The wife receiving this telegram to tell her her husband has died, and then the next day, receiving a letter from her husband where he talks so optimistically about their future together.

That is somewhat ironic, but it's also irony in the darkest and most cruel way.

So thank you to Izzy and Lucas for their suggestions there.

And on to the second part of the lesson now where we're going to have a look at understanding why the poem was written.

And as always, we're going to begin with a discussion.

So I'd like you to think more based on the poem that we've just read together.

What do you think the poet thought of war? What do you think his attitude was towards war? And why do you think this? Again, this can be done in groups, or it can be considered independently.

I'd like you to pause the video now while you consider that question in a way that suits you today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Some fantastic discussions there.

And many people identifying, like Lucas, that Thomas Hardy, the poet, was firmly, firmly opposed to war.

He really didn't agree with it.

He felt that it was a futile or pointless waste of life.

And actually, this is an anti-war protest poem that was published in December 1899.

So it was published by Hardy with a view of showing people just how pointless and silly and what a waste of life war actually was.

And this was published two months after the Second Boer War started.

Now, the Second Boer War was a conflict between the British Empire and the Boers in South Africa that started in 1899.

So what I'd like to do now is check your understanding of what you've just learned.

So "A Wife in London" was published in December 1899, and this was, was it two years after the start of the Boer War? Two days after the start of the Second Boer War.

C, two months after the start of the Second Boer War.

Or D, two decades after the start of the Second Boer War.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

Off you go.

And a massive well done if you correctly selected C.

Well remembered.

It was published two months after the start of the Second Boer War.

So the Boer War was generally welcomed by the British public, believe it or not.

Many people thought that a victory in this war would secure further its place as the most powerful empire.

However, there was a small number of people who believed that war was an unjustifiable waste of life, so that it was futile and pointless.

And these people were accused of being pro-Boer and were condemned by both the government at the time and the media.

Now, Thomas Hardy was one of these people, and I'd like you to discuss now, well, bearing in mind that Thomas Hardy had these views, why do you think he wrote the poem then? And secondly, this poem was absolutely not well received when it was first published in 1899.

Why do you think that was? I'd like you to discuss this ideally with people around you, but if not, you can consider it independently.

As always, feel free to take notes if you think the contents of the discussions you're having will be useful for you in future.

But I'd like you now to pause the video while you discuss those questions in a way that suits you.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions and many people identifying that actually perhaps Hardy wrote the poem to highlight how unnecessary and tragic all war, but particularly the Boer War, was.

Secondly, the poem was obviously published just two months after the start of the Second Boer War.

And it was really not well received because when the war started, the public was still very much in favour of the Boer War, and they kind of thought that this might be a really easy win for Britain so that they could win over more land so that it could become an even more powerful empire.

So obviously, with Thomas Hardy publishing this poem, it wasn't well received because people didn't appreciate this kind of negativity when they were feeling so optimistic about this war.

So well done if you got those ideas in your discussions.

Brilliant work.

So we went away to the Boer War, and during the time that we were away fighting, British military tactics began to fail against the unfamiliar tactics of the Boers.

And the loss of life started to increase at an astonishing rate.

Now, when the war began to take its toll on the British army, more and more people began to start questioning the necessity for war, and this war in particular, and Hardy's poem began to start to resonate with a lot more people.

Because some of the ideas that Hardy was expressing in this poem, other people were starting to realise or adopt.

So what I'd like you to think now is, well, why do you think that Hardy shows us the impact of war on those left at home, rather than those out fighting? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question, again independently or in groups if you are able to.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with for this question.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions and some really great suggestions as to why Hardy might have shown the impact of war on those left at home.

And it could be, as Izzy points out, because actually, perhaps Hardy wants to show the war supporters that war does not benefit anybody.

Now, a lot of the people who were supporting this war felt that this would be a really good, honest political move for England at the time to gain more territory in their empire.

So perhaps in showing these people actually, you might think that the war's going to benefit you, but it's not because you're going to lose your family members, your husbands, your sons, your cousins, your uncles.

It's not going to benefit you in the way that you think it will.

And even if we did win this war, it would be at the cost of masses and masses of human life.

So perhaps Thomas Hardy wanted to show them how foolish it was for them to support a futile war that would ultimately kill their family members.

So perhaps it says that this idea of actually what is more important, is it Britain becoming an even more powerful empire? Or is it, you maintaining your family unit? So I think he's really raising questions about the motivation behind people's support for this war and trying to show them the reality of what the consequences of their support for this war might actually be.

And now we're going to think a little bit more about the way in which this news is delivered and the new technologies that were around at the time of the Boer War and the new technologies that were being invented and being used in the 19th century.

So I'd like you to consider now, well, what two modes of communication do we see in this poem? So pause the video and discuss that with the people around you now.

Fantastic and well done to those of you that remembered that in the poem, the wife receives a telegram notifying her of her husband's death and then a letter from her deceased husband.

I'm going to have a think about the impact of receiving a telegram notifying you of such news now.

So a little bit of context about telegrams, then.

Telegrams were sent to notify the families of dead soldiers often because they were the quickest method of communication available at the time.

You know, we didn't have phones.

We didn't have text messages that got sent really quickly.

No such thing as an email.

Telegrams were the quickest thing that you could send to notify somebody or give them some news.

So that's why they were used.

Telegrams were really expensive to send, and the cost of the telegram depended on how many words it contained.

So telegrams were always sent and they were very straight to the point, and they therefore would not contain unnecessary greetings or words because that would make them unnecessarily expensive.

So what I'd like you to think now is, well, where do we see the brief nature of telegrams in the poem? And why might the brief nature of telegrams make receiving news like this, of your husband's death, even more upsetting? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider those questions, again, independently or with people around you, whichever is easiest for you today.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And really well done if, like Izzy, you thought that actually, we see the brief nature of the telegram when the poet writes that the message was shaped so shortly and said simply, "He had fallen in the far South Land." So a really, really brief message there, you know.

No "I'm sorry for your loss." No "it's unfortunate I have to inform you." That's because it would've been really expensive to send a telegram with words like that in.

And therefore, when these telegrams were sent to family members, they had to be as short as possible to avoid unnecessary expenses, which is really sad, really, because this kind of news deserves time and respect.

But unfortunately, the news wasn't able to be given the kind of time and respect that it deserved.

And secondly, information like this would've been even more difficult to process because of the short, formal nature of telegrams. Now, it would be really quite difficult if you imagine, to get closure from the death of a loved one with little detail provided about exactly where and how they died.

Okay, imagine receiving news like that and not even being able to ask questions.

That would be really difficult.

And it's really heartbreaking to see that actually, life-changing news like this was delivered in such a short and kind of impersonal way.

So it really breaks my heart when I actually think about the way in which the wife learns of this news of her husband.

The most important person in her life has passed away and she hasn't even got a sorry.

She can't ask questions.

How would you get closure from a situation like that? I think it'd be really difficult.

So well done to those of you that actually raised this kind of idea of the fact that closure will be difficult when receiving news like this in this method.

So a few more questions for consideration now.

What do you think war is like for soldiers' loved ones? Why do you think Hardy shows the impact of war upon the soldier's family, rather than the impact of war upon the soldier? And which do you think would've felt worse, receiving the news of his death or receiving the hopeful letter after his death? So just some kind of thought-provoking questions there for you to consider.

I'd like you now to pause the video and consider those questions.

I'm looking forward to sharing ideas, so off you go.

Fantastic work.

Really well done and some really interesting ideas raised there and different opinions about the last question particularly about which would feel worse.

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer there.

I think there would both be absolutely devastating bits of news to receive.

However, I do think a lot of people were kind of saying that it would feel like a kick in the gut to then receive the letter after his death.

It would feel like rubbing salt in the wound, definitely.

So in terms of the first few questions, well, Hardy is arguably trying to show us the devastating impact of war on the loved ones of soldiers, whose lives revolve around waiting for news.

And we talked a bit about the fact that because of the public support for this war, perhaps Hardy was trying to show them how foolish it was for them to support a war that was ultimately just going to destroy their family units.

And secondly, whilst the soldiers undoubtedly faced brutality and the risk of death away at war, the families of soldiers face the agony of waiting to receive bad news.

And that would be really, really difficult.

It would be so difficult to carry on trying to live your life in a normal or anything that resembles a normal way when you're constantly feeling anxious about what news you might be receiving today.

So it'd be really difficult for the families of soldiers at home.

Now on to the last task of the lesson.

I'm going to present to you three different people's ideas and I'd like you to read them and think about which of their ideas you most agree with and why? I'd then like you to justify your opinion using evidence from the text.

So first of all, Izzy's idea is that the tragedy in this poem is the death of the soldier himself and the fact that his family will never see him again.

Laura states, the tragedy in this poem is the lack of hope in war.

Any hope a soldier's family might have is simply false hope.

War inevitably ends in death and destruction.

And finally, Lucas's idea was the fact that the tragedy in this poem is the fact that these telegrams were being sent out to families all over the country.

The wife in this poem could be any wife.

War was affecting everybody and not just those fighting.

So as I said, you're going to choose the one you most agree with and then use evidence from the text to justify your opinion.

I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you undertake this task now.

Fantastic work, and it was brilliant to see so many of you choosing different students' ideas because that really shows that you've got your own personal response to the poem.

So well done.

Now I'm sure you also recognise that all of the students did raise valid points.

Now I want to think a little bit more about how to choose evidence.

So when justifying your opinion using evidence from the text, did you pick the first quotation that you came across that supported the student's idea? Or did you select a few relevant quotations and pick the one that you felt best supported the student's idea? Which approach did you take? And I'd like you to consider, well, which approach to selecting evidence do you actually think is better and why? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider which approach you took, but also which approach you think will be best in future.

So pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant discussions.

And many of you were actually admitting to taking Jacob's approach, which is fine.

However, in future, you might be best to take a leaf out of Jun's book because actually, selecting a few quotations and then picking the best one that really exemplifies the student's idea, makes sure that you have chosen the most convincing evidence possible, which is really important when justifying your opinion.

So in future, try to be more Jun.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, the poem tells a story of a wife who receives news of her husband's death at war, and then subsequently receives a letter from her deceased husband, detailing his hopes for their future together.

Secondly, this is an anti-war poem, which was published just two months after the start of the Second Boer War.

It was published because Hardy was strongly opposed to war.

He viewed it as a monumental waste of life.

The poem contrasts the hope of a returning soldier with the devastating loss of the wife who has been left behind.

And finally, Hardy shows us the impact of war on the families and loved ones of soldiers to illustrate that war affects everybody.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson.

I really hope you enjoyed reading and discussing this poem as much as I enjoy teaching and discussing it with you.

I really look forward to seeing you next time, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.

See you later.