AT CASTLE BOTEREL

By Natalia Berg, Ella Brown, Kayleigh Horner-Hughes, Tom Johnson & Marc Walsh

SUMMARY

Hardy is driving down a road in Cornwall and is recalling an event

which took place there between himself and Emma 40 years before.

The poem opens in the present with Hardy driving to the junction

of a road with drizzle falling.

He then fades into reminiscing about what happened between him

and Emma.

CONTEXT

Written during March 1913 when Hardy visited Cornwall after the

death of his wife.

Castle Boterel is Boscatle about a mile from St. Juliot.

This is where Emma lived when she first met Hardy.

As I drive to the junction of lane and highway,

And the drizzle bedrenches the waggonette,

I look behind at the fading byway,

And see on its slope, now glistening wet,

Distinctly yet

Myself and a girlish form benighted

In dry March weather. We climb the road

Beside a chaise. We had just alighted

To ease the sturdy pony‟s load

When he sighed and slowed.

SETTING

How setting is created in ‘At Castle Boterel’

DRIVING

Entire stanza emphasises the lonesome drive and also how Hardy

is now on his own.

“I look behind at the fading highway”

Suggests he is the only person on the road, and therefore is

vulnerable, because he has no one to look out for him.

USE OF WEATHER

Stanza One – Describes how the “drizzle bedrenches

the waggonette”

Stanza Two – Describes the “dry March weather”

This greatly contrasts to show the difference in Hardy‟s emotions from

the present day to how he felt when he was with Emma, 40 years ago.

It shows how he still misses her, but then when he reflects on the time

they spent together his brightens.

CHARACTERS

How characters are created in ‘At Castle Boterel’

NARRATOR (HARDY)

Shows Hardy as quite an emotional man.

• Use of Pathetic Fallacy

• “drizzle bedrenches the waggonette”

Builds Hardy up to be a very needy man, who misses Emma.

• Through the constant use of „We‟

• “What we did as we climbed, and what we talked of ”

EMMA

We are not informed that she has died, however the pain that

Hardy is showing does suggest it.

• “Never again.”

STRUCTURE

“Distinctly yet‟ is on its own, making it literally distinct.

“Fading byway” suggests how we are fading into his memories.

Regular structure, flows like a path

„and feeling fled‟ on its own impression of being alone and empty, without

feeling.

The time when he is recollecting almost becomes reality as he tells it in the

present tense; “We climb the road”

Verses end with short sentences, to emphasise the meaning and make the

endings stand out more, it could also show Emma‟s abrupt ending to life.

The poem is told by Thomas Hardy

Recollection of an event from the past.

• Shows the significance of the event.• “A time of such quality”

Poem ends with „never again‟ showing how now it has ended never will it be revisited

again, as perhaps it was too painful and reminds him of what will never be again.

Recollection of an event from the past.

• Shows the significance of the event.• “A time of such quality”

• The time when he is recollecting almost becomes reality as he tells it in the present tense; “We climb the road

VOICE/NARRATIVE P ERSP ECTIVE

THEMES

Longing – He wants to be with Emma again.

Redemption – He wants to make right of the past, so he tries to

remember the good times he spent with her.