Poems can bring people closer to their work. The way a poet writes a poem is true beauty and the meanings behind them. In Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Last Performance,” it’s about a woman who plays at her last concert, yet later on, she passes away and the speaker is confused. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker realizes that he somewhat misses her songs and questions how she knew it was going to be her time to go.
In The Outsiders, Ponyboy received a letter from Johnny right before he died. Johnny was someone incredibly close to Ponyboy, and he misses his best friend every day. Johnny writes the letter right before he passes, so in a way, it connects to the poem the same way the lady sang before she died. How did Johnny know he was going to die? Was it the doctors telling him? Or was it his instinct that told him he needed to write the letter while he still has the time? How did the woman know it was her time to go?
“When I returned from the town at nightfall
Thomas Hardy’s “The Last Performance”
Notes continued to pour
As when I had left two hours before.”
In the quote above the speaker is talking about how the song continues to play in his head even after leaving the town. It had been at least two hours since the woman had stopped playing, yet he still cant stop thinking about her. Sorta like Ponyboy, after Johnny had passed he just couldn’t stop thinking about his best friend. Ponyboy had spent so much time listening to Johnny, thinking about him, and doing all kinds of stuff together. Then just like that he’s gone, and just like the woman plays his last song by writing a letter.
Brotherhood 