Analyse of “the Darkling Thrush”

Analyse of The Darkling Thrush Thomas brave presents a foundation of intrust in his poesy The Darkling Thrush. In the poem winter season has brought about conclusion and desp transmission line. A tired old homo leans over a brushwood gate in a empty bea, to see the ghosts of the past and lesser consent for the future. stout economic consumptions imagery to waken ideas and images in the readers mind. The lands sharp features seemed to me. The Centurys frame outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind its death-lament. In describing the landscape he refers to the landscape as an intimate quarry as if it were hu worldly concern.He compares the landscape to a deathly body laying whole more than or less him and the clouds be coming the coffins top, and the wind his death lament. The man besides describes the landscape to contr toy as much disembodied spirit and spirit as he does. Hardy choose his actors line carefully utilise negative words much(prenominal ) as gray, desolate, broken and taken up(p). This negatively leads us to believe that this is how Harper feelings are al wholeness and frightened out in the icy. While still using a negative tone Harper tries to turn the poem to a somewhat confirmative tone. He continues to utilization wording such(prenominal) as frail, aged, gaunt and sm from each one precisely adds in wording like full-hearted and ecstasy illimited.The modify of wording suggests a shift in the tone of the poem. A metrical composition shuttle has entered, spreading warmth and hope into the earlier desolate and dead landscape. The theme of hope is introduced with the appearance of a formbird in stanza three. The bird is meant to resemble hope and that things are not sooner over barely even though it may seem so. In the winter months death is brought forth yet in the coming of spring restores that life one time again. The poem suggests that if one doesnt h eitherow into the negative a positive can and ma y come forth whether one is aware of this or not.In the poems extend stanza the man reveals his thoughts as if his thoughts as if he has see a glimpse of hope as the life songbird colours the personal credit line with its song. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh more or less, That I could r onlyy there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he k naked, And I was unaware. The stanza suggests that there may be hope after all. Is it the spring coming erst more? Or is it merely the ghost messing with him? Hardys poem as wholesome as its overall theme is a reflection of the time power point he lived in.The poem takes organise on New Years Eve, the suffer sidereal day of the 19th century. The queen is barely breathing her last few breaths and the Victorian Era is coming to an end. Waiting just around the corner is a parvenue era, a new king, and a new Period completely opposite f rom the Victorian Era. The theme of hope is presented in a fashion that even though something may seem downhearted and shadowy that one needs to feed a little credit in such matters. Things in the world and life are passing play to be unclear because nothing is ever sure. Hardy wants readers to have confidence in the world and the transformation of the times. Stanzas . The gate which the loudspeaker system is leaning on represent the threshold of the new century. The spectral quality of frost suggests the senescence and the ghostly quality of the landscape. The scene has the mere trace of life, in which inborn and human presences are ghostly. The figure of the weakening eye symbolizes the ending of the day 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 speakers awareness that he is alone, the people who usually occupy the land have returned to their h ome. . This stanza alike marks the end of a century. The landscapes features depart like an immense body layed out. The first sentence exhibits the speakers mind enclosing the huge space of land and sky into the shake display of the Centurys corpse in its coffin. The sky is the lid. The number 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 vegetative and human life is under the pall of this death. 3.The darkling thrush, in all its homeliness and diminutiveness, is the corporeal voice of the real world. The birds song is spontaneous and unpremeditated. It flings its soul into the gloom in contrary 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 in the growing gloom, but for the enthusiastic and full-hearted participation. 4. The speaker has no t been confident(p) or transported out of the growing gloom, but his response to the birds song is to think.Although the blessed Hope is a knowledge only 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 outline on a poem by Thomas Hardy. The poem is bellyacheed The Darkling Thrush, to a fault known by another title, By the Centurys deathbed. My analysis will include instalments such as the poems setting, structure, imagery, style, hoar scheme and theme. I will go into one element at the time, and them lead examples from one stanza only in that element.I will not come choke to the resembling 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. Id rather prefer to give a thorough descript ion 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. 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 bareness 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 worried syllables in them, which is called tetrameter (4) and trimeter (3). Since the lines also issue forth 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 initiatory 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 ( / / / )The tangled bine-stems scored the sky5 And all mankind that haunted nigh7 Had sought their household fires. 8 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, Ive 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 cunning 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 poems nature and temperament. The lands sharp features seemed to be1 The Centurys corpse outleant, 2 The ancient pulse of germ 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 landsca pe. Another thing to bear in mind (in a more of a general matter concerning his poems) as you read Hardys poems, is that he chooses to avoid following a jewelled line. He doesnt care for writing just pretty poetry. 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 of all time means that its put there on purpose, and that it has a special meaning. He operates with end-rhyme, but both in masculine and fair(prenominal) endings. 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, dont g ive 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 answer 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 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 Was written on terrestial 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 understanding of the poem is enhanced, but also your understanding of poems in general. Ive tried to get you through some of the main elements of poetry, giving a brief bill 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.