Ignorance metaphor
The wife is described as sitting "in the tawny vapour" of London." London fog is used here as a metaphor for the wife's ignorance, as she is metaphorically in the dark about her husband's death.
Street-lamp metaphor
Hardy describes the street-lamp, which "glimmers cold." This represents the cold reality and truth the wife is soon to be faced with.
The pastoral metaphor
The husband's idyllic setting from his letter is described in the following passage: "home-planned jaunts by brake and burn, in the summer weather, and of new love that they would learn." The warm, summer setting is used as a metaphor for the happy life they should have lived.
Street-lamp simile
At the end of the first stanza, Hardy describes the street-lamp: "Like a waning taper, the street-lamp glimmers cold." This simile compares the light of the street-lamp to a "waning taper," which emphasizes the weakness of the light.
