Understanding how Hardy presents the consequences of war in 'A Wife in London'

Hardy wrote 'A Wife in London' two months after the start of the Second Boer War. Hardy was strongly opposed to war - he viewed it as a monumental waste of life. The poem sees a wife receive a telegram informing her of the death of her husband. The wife then receives a letter from her husband before he died, detailing his hopes for their future together. The poem contrasts the hope of a returning soldier with the devastating loss of the wife who has been left behind.