Poem Analysis - Thomas Hardy

The Going

Like many of Hardy's poems that were written after his wife's death in December 1912, 'The Going' is an expression of the complex grief that dominated the poet's mentality for a significant period of his life. This grief is moulded into a rough elegiac structure, travelling through emotions of shock, despair and resignation, all of which often accumulate into a sense of confusion about his wife. However, although reconciliation does eventually occur, one cannot help but notice that Hardy has to force himself to come to terms with the loss of his wife. Moreover, behind the thin veil of acceptance, he exposes the mental frailty that grief has left behind.

The first stanza is essentially questioning the late Emma Hardy on why she died so suddenly, without expressing any feelings of previous unhappiness. By asking 'Why did you give no hint that night [...] you would close your term here,' without any introduction, the author is immediately interrogating his wife. This demonstrates his pure desperation to communicate with his wife once more. In addition to this, the subject of the stanza is you, which suggests that Hardy believes his wife to be some way responsible for her own tragic death. He does so despite the fact that he had failed to notice her ill health and unhappiness. Therefore, one can interpret Hardy's questioning to be a shift of guilt onto his wife's shoulders, which ultimately contributes to a sense of confusion, but also seems to be Hardy's method of coping with grief, as admission of guilt would lead to painful regret, as well as anger.

Another key feature of the first stanza is a sentiment of an almost metaphysical separation between Hardy and his dead wife. He bemoans the fact that his wife has gone to where he 'could not follow, with wing of swallow.' By comparing his wife to a bird, he has endowed her with the ability to fly. This perhaps illustrates her freedom, while Hardy is trapped on earth, in human form. Ultimately, this alludes to Hardy's feelings of isolation, and a desire to break free from his grief by following his wife.

The second stanza's opening lines of 'Never to bid good-bye,/ Or lip me the softest call,' largely echo the essence of the beginning of the poem. By repeatedly asking his wife questions without answer, Hardy illustrates an unproductive, cyclic mourning from which he is struggling to escape. Moreover, the use of 'lip me' has sexual connotations, due to its association with kissing. Hardy's somewhat unusual diction exposes his desire for some intimacy between him and his wife, which was apparently lacking in the later years of their marriage.

The permanence of his grief is portrayed as he 'saw morning harden upon the wall'. This metaphor expresses how in the same way that plaster sets on a wall, the morning of her death has cemented itself within Hardy's emotional memory. Likewise, if one interprets 'morning' to be a pun on 'mourning', one can infer that Hardy is demonstrating his lingering grief. Within grief, Hardy encounters a sense of being 'Unmoved, [and] unknowing'. The use of the prefix 'un' allows Hardy to express what he is not feeling, rather than what he is feeling, which suggests a sense of loss and numbness. This numbness is a manifestation of the meaningless and the uniformity of Hardy's existence when he cannot be with his wife.

Despite his obvious grief, Hardy does not directly mention death at all in the first two stanzas. Instead, he expresses dying with euphemisms such as 'close your term here'. This could perhaps demonstrate that Hardy's passion for his wife was an indispensable part of his identity. Therefore, Hardy is almost refusing to admit to himself that she is truly dead, as the consequential feelings of loss and numbness would be catastrophic for any hope of reconciliation.

The 3rd stanza continues the interrogative manner of the poem as Hardy asks 'Why do you make me leave the house/ And think for a breath it is you I see [?]' In addition to the poet's frustrated attempts to come to terms with his wife's death, Hardy indicates a level of confusion and irrationality. By stating that he leaves the house to search for her, he is doing so in spite of her having gone 'Where I could not follow'. This clearly suggests that Hardy's cravings for his wife are so strong that he is overruling a rational understanding that she has died, in order to attempt to satisfy his longing to be reunited with her. Ultimately, his continued searching reflects a level of denial in his grief. However, this irrationality ultimately leads to even greater frustration, as he can never find Emma; indeed, the illusion of seeing his wife 'sickens' Hardy.