Thomas Hardy is regarded as one of the best British poets ever known. He is remembered as one who was not afraid to explore the depths of poetry in order to effectively unearth the true feelings and emotion that lay beneath the various facades of people and life. However in order to convey these beliefs he had to his disposal a number of devices which leads me to the conclusion that a great poet uses imagery but for one to be truly great one must not be restricted which is why the literary devices of symbolism,metaphors, alliteratio and repetition were used within his greatest works some of them being "The Voice", "Neutral Tones" and "A Broken Appointment". In addition it is important to note that all of these poems portray the themes of love and relationships, nature, as well as perception versus reality and desires to explore the issues of life. The poem Neutral tones was an early poem of Hardy's collection written in 1967 entitled "Wessex Poems" and it is about Hardy's affair and the challenges that came with the relationship which in turn have helped to mould and shape him into the person that he became. The poem has 4 quatrains and ABBA rhyme scheme and the emphasis throughout is on coldness and colour, with the scene matching the emotions of the two people involved which therefore represents lack of love. The device of imagery is used to create a perishing relationship through nature he makes reference to images such as "a pond edged with grayish leaves". In addition the bleakly described world serves as a correlative through the use of description. He creates a world of once beautiful things lying in despair which invokes a sense of hopelessness and melancholia in the reader. Hardy uses alliteration several times in the poem so as to call attention to the important points. For example by using "starving sod" around the pond he communicates to the reader that the "starving sod" is actually more than simply than the dying earth. Instead it is clear that he is making reference to the dying relationship. Also as much as the relationship has starved itself by not having any possibility of adventure, newness, the sod is likened to the as winter which keeps the world within its grasp. Hardy uses alliteration again to emphasize the decayed relationship and the destruction of their love. The speaker states that after having gone through this experience he has learnt "keen lessons that love deceives, And wrings with wrong". He then uses symbolism "Your face, and the God curst sun, and a tree" as a reminder of how he lost sight of love and why he has replaced it with bleak nothingness. The second poem "A Broken Appointment tells the tale of the realities of life and also the rejection and pain that comes with love especially when one pours their heart and soul to another. The poem was written about a woman that Hardy felt strong affections for but sadly she did not return his romantic feelings. He begins the poem with very definitive lines "You did not come" and "you love not me" as though he trying to come to grips with the fact that the woman doesnt love him and it is as though a searing pain goes through him when he confirms these statements. The rhyme scheme is (aabcbcaa eedfdfee) and despite the uncommon, irregular rhythm the poem still manages to flow with preciseness. Hardy chooses to use the device of personification to illustrate the realities of life the line "marching time drew on, and wore me numb" signifies that even though we may think we have forever, but time is no respecter of persons and we as mortal being must be ready to accept that once it is spent well or wasted we have no control over what happens in this world. Therefore the phrase also suggests the effect that time can have on you due to the fact it does not care and is unforgiving which is why it is likened to soldiers who are going to battle.Additionally, in "The Voice we see Hardy using similar techniques to that in "A Broken Appointment" such as repetition to reinforce certain points, he also uses symbolism there. There is use of monosyllabic words, and an ABAB rhyme scheme which is known as a ballad rhyme. The poem was written as a reaction to the death of and it is about Emmas voice calling to him from beyond the grave and it was Hardy's way of reconciliation. The very first line of the first stanza starts off with alliteration; Woman much missed, .This alliteration stresses on the m sound and has been deliberately plugged into the poem in order to show to the reader that he dearly misses his wife and that his love was not and will never be superficial. In the very same line, a second technique has been used by Hardy; how you call to me, call to me,. This time around, Hardy employs repetition to stress on the fact that his wife might be communicating with him, and this idea makes him jovial. His joviality is accentuated by the fact that the wife returning to her original personality, the personality which caused Hardy to fall in love with. This piece of information can therefore point out that the wife eventually changed personalities during her lifetime, which may have caused tensions between the two. This might be a reason why Hardy so deeply regrets the death of his wife. In closing, one may conclude that in order to craftily create his masterpieces hardy had to use various devices as mentioned before in order to enrich and fully incorporate all of the necessary elements needed. Hardy had to use devices other than imagery so as to capture the stories of which he was telling. Therefore, it is logical for a good poet to use the device of imagery but it is best for a great poet to use other devices.