Analyse of “the Darkling Thrush”

Analyse of The Darkling Thrush doubting Thomas audacious presents a approximation of commit in his verse The Darkling Thrush. In the poem winter sniptime season has brought ab come forth final stage and despair. A tire old man leans tout ensemble over a brushwood gate in a ravage area, to check out the vestiges of the past and minuscular confide for the future. Hardy utilizations imaginativeness to evoke ideas and images in the readers mind. The lands sharp features scram outed to me. The centurys corpse outleant, His crypt the unfixed canopy, The jazz its death-lament. In describing the landscape he c exclusivelys to the landscape as an intimate object as if it were human.He compares the landscape to a dead dead body pose any around him and the clouds be orgasm the coffins top, and the wind his death lament. The man withal describes the landscape to hold in as much life and t bingle of voice as he does. Hardy choose his words guardedly exploitation nix words much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as gray, stripped, overturned and haunted. This negatively leads us to believe that this is how Harper feelings are al matchless and frightened out in the cold. plot of ground still ingestion a negative footmark Harper tries to turn the poem to a slightly positive tone. He continues to hire expression much(prenominal) as frail, aged, superfluous and small but adds in wording like full-hearted and joy illimited.The change of wording suggests a shift in the tone of the poem. A bird describebird has entered, spreading warmth and hope into the in the first berth desolate and dead landscape. The theme of hope is introduced with the display of a var.bird in stanza three. The bird is meant to match hope and that things are not quite over til now even though it whitethorn seem so. In the winter months death is brought forth yet in the attack of spring restores that life once again. The poem suggests that if one does nt lead into the negative a positive can and whitethorn come forth whether one is aware of this or not.In the poems come through stanza the man reveals his thoughts as if his thoughts as if he has see a glance of hope as the life formbird colors the air with its song. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could recover there trembled through His happy good-night air rough unsaved Hope, whereof he k freshly, And I was unaware. The stanza suggests that there may be hope after all. Is it the spring culmination once more than? Or is it just the ghost messing with him? Hardys poem as tumefy as its overall theme is a manifestation of the time period he lived in.The poem takes correct on New Years Eve, the last twenty-four hour period of the 19th blow. The queen is barely eupnoeic her last some breaths and the priggish Era is coming to an abate. Waiting just around the respite is a naked era, a bare-ass king, and a new Period completely dissimilar from the Victorian Era. The theme of hope is presented in a fashion that even though virtuallything may seem dark and fly-by-night that one needs to have a little faith in such matters. Things in the valet de chambre and life are going to be unclear because nothing is ever sure. Hardy wants readers to have assent in the world and the transformation of the times. Stanzas . The gate which the vocaliser is leaning on represent the threshold of the new century. The spectral quality of frost suggests the ageing and the ghostlike quality of the landscape. The scene has the mere trace of life, in which natural and human presences are ghostly. The figure of the weaken eye symbolizes the goal of the twenty-four hour period along with the ending of the century. The tangled bine-stems represent a harp which all the strings have been broken emphasizing the winters dregs. The stanza ends with the loudspeaker systems awareness t hat he is alone, the multitude who usually occupy the land have returned to their home. . This stanza as well marks the end of a century. The landscapes features become like an immense body layed out. The first sentence leavens the speakers mind wrap the huge space of land and sky into the fright display of the Centurys corpse in its coffin. The sky is the lid. The second sentence emphasizes that the ending of the century is not just closing to the speaker, but an end which seems to separate it from any relation to the future. Every spirit of ve urinateal and human life is under the quiver of this death. 3.The darkling thrush, in all its homeliness and diminutiveness, is the visible voice of the real world. The birds song is spontaneous and unpremeditated. It darts its nous into the gloom in unregenerate of the speakers previous flinging of his spiritless soul upon the landscape. The birds joyful act appears to the speaker as a choice, and not for mere survival of the fit test in the growing gloom, but for the importunate and full-hearted participation. 4. The speaker has not been convinced or transported out of the growing gloom, but his response to the birds song is to think.Although the blessed Hope is a knowledge save the bird has and of which the speaker is yet unaware, the speaker accepts the birds song as a sign that there is hope for the future. Analysis of The Darkling Thrush, by Thomas Hardy As the title has already mentioned, this assignment allow be an abridgment on a poem by Thomas Hardy. The poem is called The Darkling Thrush, in like manner known by another title, By the Centurys deathbed. My analysis allow include elements such as the poems setting, structure, imagery, diction, verse line scheme and theme. I result go into one element at the time, and them give examples from one stanza only in that element.I entrust not come back to the like elements in the other stanzas, even though they are there. Therefore, this result ing not be a complete analysis of every element in distributively of the stanzas. Id rather prefer to give a thorough description of what the different elements are and hence give a few examples of each of them. In then end I provide puree to come up with a conclusion. The poem takes place on New Years Eve, the last day of the 19th century. Its 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.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, thence called iam bic tetrameter ( / / / / ). Line number 2, 4, 6, and 8 each have 3 stressed syllables, therefore called iambic trimeter ( / / / )The tangled bine-stems scored the sky5 And all mankind that haunted nigh7 Had desire their household fires. 8 Through the use of personification, symbols, metaphors, initial rhyme (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 knowledgeable state of mind, as modernists are soon to do. To show the use of imagery in this poem, Ive interpreted 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, canop y 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 poems constitution and temperament. The lands sharp features seemed to be1 The Centurys corpse outleant, 2 The ancient pulse of come and birth5The 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 frequent matter concerning his poems) as you read Hardys poems, is that he chooses to avoid following a embellish line. He doesnt care for constitution just pretty poe set about. He breaks with conventions concerning the normal use of language. An aged thrush frail, gaunt and small5 Had elect thus to fling his soul7 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 its put there on purpose, and that it has a limited meaning. He operates with end-rhyme, but both in manful and feminine endings. The major theme is introduced in the poems tertiary stanza, in the appearance of a song-bird. It is probably supposititious to resemble hope, and that things are not quite over yet although it may seem so. ilk 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, entert 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, its often a reaction to the old one. Now was the time for a reaction. Things looked dark and not so promising. People didnt know what hope there lay in the future, but as this poem says, there may be hope coming although you dont 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 influence 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 Was written on terres tial things3 That I could think there trembled through5 Some blessed Hope whereof he knew7 If youve followed me through these 5 pages, you will probably not only feel that your reasonableness of the poem is enhanced, but also your understanding of poems in general. Ive tried to guide you through some of the main elements of poetry, giving a brief interpretation as to what they are and how to find them. Because Ive chosen to spend so much time on this, I didnt 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.