An unsentimental meditation upon a complex marriage,[1] the sequence's emotional honesty and direct style made its poems some of the most effective and best-loved lyrics in the English language.
While it may perhaps be related to the last time she entertained guests who stayed longer than they should have, more significantly it conveys Hardy's sense (like many people in mourning) that he never had a proper chance to say good-bye to Emma.
The lack of ceremony of her departure from life it details resonated with the estrangement of their marriage, which saw his growing indifference matched by her unpredictable attempts at independence.
[3] The resulting bitterness infusing Hardy's feelings was one of the motivations behind his subsequent pilgrimage to the places where he and Emma had first met, to recapture something of those happier times in his poetry.
[5] Hardy used the waves, "engrossed in saying their ceaseless babbling say" (l. 5) that crashed against the cliff, as a metaphor for time, which moves forward mechanically, routinely, and without any concern for people.