In Thomas Hardy's poem, "In the Moonlight", the setting is placed in a cemetery with the main character staring at one of the gravestones. It is unknown who exactly he is conversing with, but through the use of dialogue, his feelings about the deceased woman in his life are revealed. This poem expresses the characters turmoil after realizing her loved a woman only after she had passed, and there was nothing he could do to bring her back.
             The first two stanzas demonstrate how the character is reacting to being in front of the grave and being so consumed by what he is looking at that it appears that he does not realize that there are other graves surrounding him. The speaker describes his "great gaunt eyes so importune" (Line 4) or begging, for the soul he is staring at to come back to life. The realization is, that no matter how long he stares or yearns for her souls return to him, death is the inevitable end of which one cannot return.
             The third stanza is the characters response to the observation of his actions. He states that he would rather see her soul than see any other living thing, but he knows that will not happen. He so badly desires to have her return that he is completely entranced by looking at the marker for her death, but inside he feels the loss and the disappointment of the knowledge that he cannot make her return to him.
             The speaker draws the conclusion that the woman the character is speaking of was the love of his life. He assumes that his sad state is the repercussion of her passing. He says "and when she passed, all your sun went out?" The concluding stanza provides an interesting twist that the reader would not expect. The character states that he did not love her and "all the other were ranked above" (Line 14) His final line, "Whom during her life I thought nothing of" is the basis for my understanding that it is because of her
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