Stylistic writing features of Thomas Hardy

Stylistic writing features of Thomas Hardy

1. Biblical allusions

   • contextual change in christianity
     • "Thy, damnation, slumbereth, not."

2. Colloquial language

   • Joan Durbeyfield
     • "Yll be fess enough, my poppet, when th'st know!"

3. Metaphors

   • Tess' body
     • "beautiful feminine tissue, sensitive as gossamer"
   • Tess' journey
     • "long and stony highway"
   • Exposure
     • "they were every one put to death by the sticks and stones of the harvesters"

4. Descriptive writing

   • Describing Marlott
     • "The village of Marlott...Such is the vale of Blackmoor."

5. Pathetic fallacy

   • hidden/secret plans
     • "mist of yellow"
     • "The Chase was wrapped in thick darkness"
   • Mirrors Tess
     • "Sad October"

6. Irony

   • Alec is not honourable/loses his honour
     • "Upon my honour!"
   • Alec whistles love song
     • "Take, O take those lips away"

7. Motif

   • White - purity, innocence, virginity
     • "all dressed in white gowns"
     • "revealing the red and ivory of her mouth"
   • Red - danger, passion, blood, hell
     • "Red ribbon in her hair"
     • "Red and smooth" (Alec's lips)
     • "made her blush a little"
     • "Red coal of a cigar"
   • Birds - Tess, freedom, caged
     • "gentle roosing birds" (pheasants - bred to be killed)

8. Symbolism

   • Phallic shape
     • Alecs cigar
     • Arrow that kills the white Hart
     • Snake (Garden of Eden)
   • Alec is dangerous
     • "behind, the green valley of her birth"
   • Birds represent Tess
   • Angelic
     • "his room was an immense attic" (watching over Tess)

9. Allusion

   • Romeo & Juliet
     • "the pretty maiden he had not danced"
   • Alexander the Great (Alec d'Urberville)
   • Greek mythology
     • "Lotis attempting to elude Priapus, and always failing"

10. Modern views

    • Not Tess' fault she was raped
      • "immeasurable social chasm" (loss of virginity)
      • "and you did not help me!"
    • Angel is modern
      • "I should prefer to not take orders"
      • "taking his meals downstairs in the general dining-kitchen"
      • "his object being to acquire a practical skill in the various processes of farming, with a view either to the Colonies, or the tenure of a home-farm"
    • Loss of faith
      • "the ache of modernism"

11. Eponymous

    • Tess of the d'Urbervilles is named after the protagonist

12. Recurring themes

    • Merlott is a safe place
      • "an engirdled and secluded region"
    • The White Hart represents Tess
      • "killing by a certain Thomas de la Lynd of a beautiful white Hart"
    • Tess is innocent/naive
      • "held it by the stem to her mouth"
    • Alec is manipulative/cruel/childish
      • "Your father has a new cob"
      • "Don't you love me ever so little now?"

13. Foreshadowing

    • White Hart story foreshadows penetration/Tess' being raped
    • Tess is dangerous to Alec
      • "regarded herself in the light of a murderess"
      • "of which he was to see more some day"
    • Alec wants to pursue her (white Hart)
      • "he thought better of it, and let her go"
      • "What a crumby girl!"
    • Alec is dangerous to Tess
      • "the protection of their companionship homeward"
      • "Lotis attempting to elude Priapus, and always failing"
    • Death
      • "cheeks that were damp and smoothly chill"
      • "they were every one put to death by the sticks and stones of the harvesters"

14. Other

    • Similies
    • Personification
    • Onomatopeia
    • Assonance
    • Alliteration
    • Sibilance
    • Listing
    • Trippling
    • Punctuation
    • 3rd person (omnicient) narrative
    • Dialect
    • Direct speech
    • Interventional narrator
    • Humour
    • Verisimilitude