A. connect and engage with your audience I think
In the poem "Afterwards," Hardy uses many euphemisms to refer to death. He never actually says the words die, dead, or death.
Instead, he says things like: "If I pass during..." Here, the term "pass" is replacing the word "die." He also uses the very wordy "When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay" (which basically means "When the present is behind me" or "When I am part of the past").
The effect of these euphemisms is to have a quiet, calming effect on the reader. If he constantly used the words "die" and "death" throughout the poem, the dreamlike quality of the poem would be altered.
Instead, using terms like "afterward" and all the other euphemisms allows Hardy to discuss death without actually discussing it. In this way, he wonders what the rest of the world will do "after."
