Poem Analysis - Thomas Hardy

On the Departure Platform

Thomas Hardy's work "On the Departure Platform" (2100) is a four-line, six stanza narrative poem. It is a dramatized account of the sights of the speaker as a lady (whom is his love) leaves him to board a train. Although the speaker is very much in love with the woman, he feels that she can appear "never as of then!"(2101: 20) due to their relationship being at its end. The author's use of imagery, amplification and connotations expresses in a non-literal form, the relationships ultimate demise at the hands of the woman's loss of love.

Hardy creates an emotionally unstable atmosphere from the start. When the title is read, it brings an image of an end or leaving to the reader. As the poem begins, the speaker simply says, "We kissed at the barrier."(2100:1) This sets the tone of the piece. It is immediately noticed that he avoids going into detail about the kiss. This suggests that it is quick and disconnected. The speaker does not mention their relationship or past moments, only the aspect of leaving; which is immediately determined by the reader as a negative. The title, the initial line of the poem along with the one sided non intimate account all imply that the woman is leaving him emotionally and he accounts his feelings as she does so.

The atmosphere is then further developed to cast the image of losing his love for good. "Under the lamplight's fitful glowers,"(2100:9) "Down that diminishing platform" (2100:6) both use alliteration to focus the reader on "fitful" and "diminishing." The use of apostrophes helps amplify some of these alliterations throughout the text. These allow the reader to focus on how quickly the speaker feels his relationship is ending and his melancholic tone as it ends.

Images created in Thomas Hardy's poem must be taken in a non-literal sense to grasp the true meaning of the speaker's dialect. As he watches her fade, not only does the woman fade from his physical and emotional self but also he places her in a point where she is going to become a memory that once was. This is further enforced by his depersonalization of her form, setting her as "a spot of muslin fluff".(2100:5)

Thoughts of the speaker's love moving on to another man are a constant theme in the poem. The thought starts as he describes her as walking into a crowd. This symbolism of going back out to find another is reinforced. "Behind dark groups from far and near, whose interests were apart from ours," (2100:10,11) explains the speaker's discontent with letting her go. The speaker talks of how this is not in the interest of their relationship before the line "She would disappear." (2100:12) In this, the speaker produces the thought of never seeing her again.

More powerful verbs and adverbs are used in parallel with each other. We see them come up in a rhythmic sequence after the speaker expresses his melancholic attitude towards the ending of their relationship. "Fitful", "apart", "disappear", "ceased", "nebulous", and "vanished" are focal points of the speakers dialect. These all create a powerful feeling of loss, distance, and uncertainty. When the speaker uses these, they are all used in describing an action that the woman is taking as she leaves the speaker in the train station. This denotes his emotional loss for her.

The final stanza is a one-line remark from a friend to the speaker himself. In this dialect, they discuss the possibility of finding another woman for the speaker. Talking of how young men should always look for love with "Why, young man, must eternally fly."(2101:21) The friend attempts to comfort the melancholic speaker by telling him that he will find love again. The speaker responds with a pessimistic remark, which makes the reader feel as though this love was a once in a lifetime ordeal.

Thomas Hardy's poem, "On the Departure Platform" (2100) is a non-literal account of the loss of the readers love; specifically his relationship with a woman. The speaker expresses that his love can appear "never as of then!" (2101:20) due to her loss of love and distancing from him. The author's strong use of imagery and amplification, created the implication of the speaker's relationships ending. This is seen throughout the poem beginning with the title and is carried through the last line. We are left feeling emptied and alone as if we are present on the platform, watching her fade back into a sea of faces and watching her walk out of his life.

-Isaac Olajos
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