'Afterwards,' by Thomas Hardy, is a poem that questions the way that people will look upon the narrator after his death. It centre's around the idea of 'noticing things,' showing the narrators precision and the ambivalence of his neighbours. Hardy gets this across by the techniques that he uses, and the detailed descriptions which show the full extent of what the narrator has noticed. The poem shows the complexity of nature, and describes the cycle of life.
The first stanza begins by personifying the 'Present,' which is very appropriate as the poem is concerned by the aliveness of the surr…
