FREE ESSAY ON DARKLING THRUSH

DARKLING THRUSH

Analysis of "The Darkling Thrush", by Thomas Hardy
As the title has already mentioned, this assignment will be an analysis on a poem by
Thomas Hardy. The poem is called "The Darkling Thrush", also known by another title, "By
the Century's deathbed". My analysis will include elements such as the poems' setting,
structure, imagery, diction, rhyme scheme and theme. I will go into one element at the
time, and them give examples from one stanza only in that element. I will not come back
to the same elements in the other stanzas, even though they are there. Therefore, this
will not be a complete analysis of every element in each of the stanzas. I'd rather
prefer to give a thorough description of what the different elements are and then give a
few examples of each of them. In then end I will try to come up with a conclusion. 
Setting:
The poem takes place on New Years Eve, the last day of the 19th century. It's also the
end of the Victorian Age. Winter is bringing death and desolation with it. A tired old
man leans over a coppice gate in a desolate area, seeing ghosts of the past and little
hope in the future. 
Structure:
This poem has 4 stanzas, each with 8 lines. This is what we call an octave. The lines
changes between having 4 and 3 stressed syllables in them, which is called tetrameter (4)
and trimeter (3). Since the lines also follow a form of having one unstressed syllable
followed by one stressed syllable etc, we also call it iambic. 
As an example I use the poems 1st stanza. Line number 1, 3, 5 and 7 each have 4 stressed
syllables, therefore called iambic tetrameter ( / - / - / - / - ). Line number 2, 4, 6,
and 8 each have 3 stressed syllables, therefore called iambic trimeter ( / - / - / - ) 
I leant upon a coppice gate 1
Where Frost was spectre-gray, 2
And Winter's dregs made desolate 3
The weakening eye of day. 4
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky 5
Like strings of broken lyres, 6
And all mankind that haunted nigh 7
Had sought their household fires. 8
Imagery: 
Through the use of personification, symbols, metaphors, alliteration (this last element
may also refer to the poems structure) and a selected sort of words, he produces images
in the readers mind, when all he really does is just speak from his inner state of mind,
as modernists are soon to do. 
To show the use of imagery in this poem, I've taken its 2nd stanza as an example. Here he
uses personification on the landscape, thereby referring to an inanimate object as if it
were human. He compares the landscape to a dead body lying all around him, and the clouds
becoming the coffins top, and the wind his death lament. 
The poet also makes use of alliteration in this poem. An example from this stanza is
corpse, crypt, cloudy, canopy etc, where you easily notice the same sounds repeated
several times. This has mostly a decorative effect, but it also makes you focus on these
words, thereby revealing parts of the poem's nature and temperament. 
The land's sharp features seemed to be 1
The Century's corpse outleant, 2
His crypt the cloudy canopy, 3
The wind his death-lament. 4
The ancient pulse of germ and birth 5
Was shrunken hard and dry, 6
And every spirit upon earth 7
Seemed fervourless as I. 8
Diction:
The choice of words in this poem has been carefully selected, leaving little to
coincidence. If you look carefully, you notice him using lots of negatively loaded words
such as grey, desolate, broken, haunted etc. He himself is all alone out in the cold with
all his negatively loaded words. But this changes further on in the poem.
In stanza number 3 you will notice a change in the poets use of diction. In stead of
keeping mainly to negatively loaded words, he suddenly makes use of positively loaded
words too. Words like frail, aged, gaunt and small still remains, but you also get words
like evensong, full-hearted and joy illimited. This change in diction shows the reader
that something new has occurred in the poem. A song-bird has entered, spreading warmth
and hope into an earlier desolate and dead landscape. 
Another thing to bear in mind (in a more of a general matter concerning his poems) as you
read Hardy's poems, is that he chooses to avoid following a "jewelled line". He doesn't
care for writing just pretty poetry. He breaks with conventions concerning the normal use
of language. 
At once a voice arose among 1
The bleak twigs overhead 2
In a full-hearted evensong 3
Of joy illimited; 4
An aged thrush frail, gaunt and small 5
In blast-beruffled plume, 6
Had chosen thus to fling his soul 7
Upon the growing gloom. 8
Rhyme scheme:
As you read it through, you easily find its rhyme scheme to be regular. There is only one
irregularity in it, and this always means that it's put there on purpose, and that it has
a special meaning. He operates with end-rhyme, but both in masculine and feminine
endings. 
Theme:
The major theme is introduced in the poems 3rd stanza, in the appearance of a song-bird.
It is probably supposed to resemble "hope", and that things are not quite over yet
although it may seem so. Like winter always brings death along with it, the coming of
autumn restores some of it to life once more. Although things may look pretty negative
right now, don't give in to it, life will return sometime, even though you are not aware
of it yourself. 
This theme can be seen as a kind of reflection on the time Thomas Hardy lived. It was the
end of an era, and end of a Period and almost the end of a Queen. And when a new Period
is called for, it's often a reaction to the old one. Now was the time for a reaction.
Things looked dark and not so promising. People didn't know what hope there lay in the
future, but as this poem says, there may be hope coming although you don't know of its
coming. 
In the poems last stanza, the man revealing his thoughts to us sees a glimpse of hope, as
the song-bird colours the air with its singing. There may be hope after all. Is it the
spring coming once more? Or are his "Demi-Gods" just playing with him?
So little cause for carolings 1
Of such ecstatic sounds 2
Was written on terrestial things 3
Afar or nigh around, 4 
That I could think there trembled through 5
His happy good-night air 6
Some blessed Hope whereof he knew 7
And I was unaware. 8
Conclusion
If you've followed me through these 5 pages, you will probably not only feel that your
understanding of the poem is enhanced, but also your understanding of poems in general.
I've tried to guide you through some of the main elements of poetry, giving a brief
explanation as to what they are and how to find them. Because I've chosen to spend so
much time on this, I didn't use them all in each and every stanza. But now that you have
it in front of you, why not try to look for signs of the different elements in the other
stanzas?
If I were to give my own opinion of this poem, then I think I like the other title of the
poem better. It is more fitting, considering the context around the writer at the time.
You are in the last day of the 19th century, the queen is breathing her last few breaths,
and so is the Victorian era. Awaiting just around the corner is a completely new era, a
new king, and an entirely new Period entirely different from the Victorian.