"The Voice" is one of a series of poems that Hardy wrote
as a kind of lament to his dead wife, Emma, expressing his loss but also something of
the guilt that he felt in the way that he had treated her when she was alive. The poem
presents us with a speaker that is literally haunted by the ghost of his dead wife as he
walks in the countryside, hearing her voice in the wind and trying desperately to
recapture her presence but in vain. To me, one of the most important parts of the poem
is the second stanza:
Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you,
then,
Standing as when I drew near to the
town
Where you would wait for me; yes, as I knew you
then,
Even to the original air-blue
gown!
Here Hardy asks the
ghost to appear as his wife appeared when they were courting so long ago, even to the
detail of wearing the same gown that Hardy obviously clearly remembers. However, in his
description of a loved one who has now died, it is clear that this is just wishful
thinking on the part of the speaker - he is left immediately doubting the presence of
"the voice," thinking it is just the wind, and he is left to press on in his walk and
through life, alone.
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