1. “The Darkling Thrush”
By Thomas Hardy

2. Thomas Hardy
Some important notes…

3. Thomas Hardy – the beginning
Born in Dorset, England
Educated by his parents and grade school
Moved to London to attend King’s college
While in London, he experienced the class distinctions, and did not enjoy his time there
He despised Victorianism

4. Hardy’s Love Life Fell in love with Emma Gifford at the age of 30
She died 42 years after getting married, and her death deeply impacted Hardy’s life: he had a hard time coping with her death.
In 1914, at the age of 74, Hardy married his secretary, who was 35 years old
Being still infatuated with his first wife, Hardy continued to write poetry about her

5. Hardy’s Death
In 1927 (age 87), Hardy became ill with pleurisy and died shortly after this diagnosis
Hardy wanted to be buried with his first wife, but a lawyer insisted that Hardy be buried in the famous Poet’s Corner
They compromised: Hardy’s heart was buried with his first wife, and his ashes were buried in Poet’s Corner
Upon his death, many more writings were discovered and published

6. Hardy’s Themes
A Victorian realist, Hardy examines the social constraints on the lives of those living in Victorian England
He criticizes those beliefs, especially those relating to marriage, education and religion, that limited people's lives and caused unhappiness
Hardy was known to strictly oppose the confines of the Victorian period

7. Hardy & The Darkling Thrush
What you need to know for the reading…

8. The Darkling Thrush
Published December 1899, right at the turn of the century
Originally titled “The Century’s End: 1900”
The poem highlights Hardy’s distaste for the current Victorian society and his fear for what might come

9. “The Darkling Thrush”
A reading by Mrs. Mozzone

10. I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.
Thicket of small trees
“ghost gray”
Leftover sediment
Twining plants
Harp-like instrument
nearly

11. The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I.
Burial chamber
bud
Without passion

12. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom.
bare
bird

13. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware.
earthly

14. Form and Meter

15. Observation: Follows a traditional rhyme scheme up until the third stanza
Meaning: Highlights the narrator’s moments of clarity versus his moment of confusion.
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I. A B C D E F G
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware. H I J K L M N
Break of rhyme scheme

16. Structure Observation: Four quatrains of eight lines (Octaves)
Meaning: Despite the speaker’s confused and depressive state, he sticks to a clear pattern with his structure – perhaps this shows hope?
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

17. Meter Observation: Iambic tetrameter followed by Iambic Trimeter
Meaning: Again, the speaker seems to stick to a common and traditional pattern, which contrasts his depressive state. Again, maybe this shows hope? Or perhaps this symbolizes his desire to
Iambic
Tetrameter
I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.
The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.
Trimeter

18. Meaning

19. Lyric Poem
A lyric poem expresses personal strong emotions or feelings, typically spoken in first person.
A lyric poem is a rhyming poem and has a musical rhythm
Explanation:
The speaker is emotionally disturbed and depressed – he is conveying his contemplative emotions in this poem in a lyrical manner

20. I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.
Meaning:
A narrator is leaning up against a thicket of small trees and looking out upon nature: the sky and the barren land. He recognizes that he is alone in his stance, as the rest of the world is warm and comfortable next to their “household fires.” He, however, is reflecting upon the desolate existence of winter.

21. “Frost” is capitalized indicating its force
“Frost” is capitalized indicating its force. And “spectre-gray” is a ghostly gray, which adds to the eerie cold, ominous setting. Additionally, “Winter’s dregs” adds to this dark setting by emphasizing the “desolate” remnants of winter.
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.
The “weakening” metaphorical/personified “eye of day” represents the closing of life. There remains only growing darkness.
The words like “tangled” and “scored” highlight the chaotic, destructive world, and the simile “like strings of broken lyres” contrasts the beauty of music with the broken world in which it exists.
And all of “mankind” has escaped this danger and chaos by seeking comfort in their warm homes, with the exception of the speaker

22. The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervorless as I.
Meaning:
He personifies the nineteenth century as dead, and he discusses the “Century’s corpse” as being entombed in the “cloudy canopy” of the sky. The possibility of spring, according to the speaker is “shrunken hard and dry” and its “fervorless” spirit, may not bloom again. The speaker seems to think that the entire world shares his lack of passion.

23. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom.
Meaning:
But then a sound alerts the speaker, and he sees a “frail, gaunt and small” bird. The bird “fling[s] his soul” into the singing, which shows that perhaps the speaker is incorrect in believing that “every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless” as he is.

24. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware.
Meaning:
Despite the optimistic song that “arose among the bleak twigs,” the narrator feel “little cause for such carolings.” After all, the speaker sees no signs of “hope” “afar or nigh around.” But still, the speaker recognizes that maybe the bird knows more than he of some “blessed Hope.” This concludes the poem with potential optimism in an otherwise depressive, bleak state.

25. Analysis

26. Victorianism and Hardy
The Victorian era was marked by intense and rapid change
Writing during the period often addresses the idea of loss
Writing depicts a thread of uncertainty
The Victorians were fearful of what the future would bring.
They were riding the crest of an unprecedented buildup of their empire that could fail

27. The speaker
a watcher, a thinker, one who projects onto the physical world his own emotional turmoil.
Paradoxically, the world revolves around him, yet also seems to ignore him.
This intense inwardness is also evident in how the speaker characterizes other people. It is not just some people or some families that have gone inside but “all mankind” that has retreated from nature’s threatening landscape and “sought their household fires.”
The speaker is left alone outside with death all around him.

28. The century’s passing
The century that has passed is now a “corpse outleant.”
The sense of loss is everywhere, in the “weakening eye of day,” in the “Winter’s dregs,” even in the procreative powers of nature itself, “the ancient pulse of germ and birth,” which is now “shrunken hard and dry.”
For Hardy’s speaker, the world is going from bad to worse, and the century’s passing is merely a way to keep time of misery’s march.

29. The thrush
The thrush arrives as a potential savior for the darkness threatening literally to bury the speaker.
The bird “chooses” to “fling his soul / Upon the growing gloom” which is significant, to understand free will
The landscape is not improving but becoming worse than before, but perhaps this bird is suggesting something better to come

30. Sound Devices
analysis

31. The iambic tetrameter and trimeter add to the sing-songy lyric poem
The iambic tetrameter and trimeter add to the sing-songy lyric poem. Ironically, this carefully followed rhythm seems to contrast the poem’s chaotic meaning. Perhaps this shows the speaker’s confusion and/or maybe his isolated depressed thinking
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.
The use of alliteration, consonance and assonance illustrate the lyrical format of the poem, and the speaker’s sound choices seem to be harsh “d” and “sk” and “g” when describing his observations and soft “a” and “I” when describing the people at home. This further sets up the contrast

32. Theme

33. The search for meaning in a troubling world
The speaker’s observations of the world are bleak and desolate, and the speaker seems to have difficulty finding a meaningful existence in such a troubled world.
The speaker is certainly disgruntled by the changes with industrialization that the world has experienced, and he pessimistically views the turn of the century as only bringing further chaos.
The speaker, with the noting of the bird, seems to wonder, however, if there is hope; after all, the bird seems to “fling” himself into his song as though he knows that there is something better in the future.

34. Conclusion

35. Thomas Hardy and “The Darkling Thrush”
Hardy is obviously illuminating the negative aspects of the Victorian Era, and it might be inferred that his choice to include a thrush who “flings” himself into singing indicates Hardy’s hope for a better world.
This was during a time in hardy’s life when he was still married to his first wife, so he was generally content, but he was discontented with the world around him