Hardy's Portrayal of War in 'A Wife in London' Anonymous 12th Grade

‘A Wife in London’ is an anti-war whereby war is portrayed in an unflattering light. Hardy narrates the death of a soldier who fought in the African Boer War and conveys the devastating consequences this has on the soldier’s family. As such, Hardy’s attitude to war is that it results in “tragedy” as he explicitly suggests in one of the poem’s subtitles. This can be further discussed stanza-wise through a deeper analysis of the diction and literary devices used.

War is depicted as a torturous psychological process for the families of soldiers. It divides family members and brings about anxiety. Indeed, the awaited soldiers may never return home. The uncertainty about the future shows itself in the first stanza through the behavior of the wife and the description of her surroundings: “She sits in the tawny vapour.” Here, the passive verb “sits” poignantly conveys the wife’s dire plight. She has to wait helplessly for her husband to return. The “tawny vapour”, which is a unique London feature, is quite significant here as it can have several interpretations. Indeed, a witty reader might note that Hardy usually wrote on his hometown Dorset in his works; writing on London particularly might compel readers to interpret the “tawny...