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Dessence16
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[2007-01-18 12:29:41 +0000 UTC]
"Dini"
(United Kingdom)
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# Comments
Comments: 42
OI.
it's me dini. it took me like half an hour to find this page cuz wen i searched it couldn't trace the artists' name only the art. so ya. okay lata. hehe.
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DINI WOo bout time too. xD lov ya loadz
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4. I do find the ending optimistic as it establishes many things which turn a gloomy mood into one that is full with hope like a “carol”. It makes the Hardy suddenly identifies that the song of the thrush in the darkness represents hope. It seems that the poet is in a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed mood, but this thrush brings hope, a new mood, where he finally realizes that evening that there is hope for new things to come. It is clear that there is something that makes him believe, the reason to hope, without knowing what the reason is. The thrush is the one, which seems to sense this hope and expresses it with song. This is probably natures way of reminding him that spring always follows winter. Or can it be expressing a spiritual message from nature? It is certainly uplifting.
5. There are indeed 4 stanzas with a regular number of 8 lines each. This contributes towards to the slow pace to the poem, referring to, perhaps a rhythm of a musical.
6. Some mood words in the poem are atmospherically linked and give extra weight by their rhyme. For instance, every second line rhymes “lyres” and “fires” giving a regular pattern. These words are powerful as they represent the themes in a way. “Lyres” produces music, contributing to the theme of music, where the song of the thrush dominates the end of the poem, and the “fires” represent the nature theme. “
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The Darkling Thrush - Thomas Hardy [1840-1928]
Relevant Background
The poet Thomas Hardy was born near Dorchester in England.
He is also famous for writing novels.
Hardy gained a love of music from his father. Music is a prominent feature of ‘The Darkling Thrush’.
Hardy gained his interest in literature from his mother.
At the age of 22 Hardy moved to London and started to write poems. These early poems praised country life. Yet Hardy didn’t publish his poems until he was 58. He was 60 when he wrote this poem.
Hardy wrote over 900 poems in his lifetime.
Hardy’s poems are straight to the point and sometimes gloomy in outlook. In this poem he finds a source of hope when a thrush suddenly starts to sing.
Hardy’s most common theme is about the way people struggle against fate.
Hardy's themes also include rural life and nature, love, change, time, loss and death.
Hardy’s tone is usually ironic; that is he sees the unexpected twists and surprises of life. The twist in this poem is that when the poet was in a sad mood due to winter a weak old thrush caused him to feel hope.
Most of Hardy’s poetry is relatively simple and yet skilful. However, some of his poetic writing can be difficult due to old-fashioned words and phrases.
Hardy loves to think in surprising images that appeal to the reader’s intelligence.
Hardy’s poems tend to be descriptive, lyrical, and regular in form. He is a poet who likes even lines and a set rhyme scheme. We see this in ‘The Darkling Thrush’.
It is very important to note that in this poem the poet is alone and is enjoying his loneliness. He is experiencing a type of sweet sorrow. He is gloomy but he likes being gloomy. He has chosen his spot at the gate, and opted not to go inside.
He soaks up the mysterious gloomy atmosphere and listens first to the wind and then the thrush. He feels uplifted by the thrush.
Summary
‘The Darkling Thrush’ opens with a picture of the poet looking at sunset as night falls. It is dusk on the last day of the nineteenth century.
When Hardy speaks the poem he is leaning on a wooden gate looking at the darkening countryside.
At the same time, frost takes over the land like a grey ghost.
Hardy compares the shadows of sunset to the last drops or ‘dregs’ of a drink.
He describes a desolate scene. Though it is sad, he is attracted to the sorrowful mood of the place.
Hardy compares the sun to an eye that is losing power at sunset. This image suggests that sunlight is like a god.
As Hardy looks across the countryside, the dark outlines of trees and sticks seem to stand out. They contrast to the brighter sky in the west.
These upstanding stems of trees remind him of the strings of broken harps.
At the end of the first stanza it is clear Hardy is alone. Hardy shows he is alone by claiming that the people who had been out and about before sunset have all gone home to the comfort of their open house fires. The poet therefore feels alone. He likes this.
In the second stanza, Hardy imagines that the dark outline of hills and rocks form the shape of a giant corpse laid out for burial. The cloudy sky forms the roof or canopy of the tomb or crypt. He enjoys feeling this spooky atmosphere.
Because it is the last day of the year and century, Hardy makes a connection between the shape of the landscape and a corpse at a wake. He has a vivid mind.
The wind blowing through the harp-like stems and trees makes funeral music, a bit like a creepy harp at a funeral service.
The fact that nothing is growing in the earth due to winter makes the land seem dead.
All creatures on the earth seem to be lifeless or ‘fervourless’. The spirit of life seems to have died.
Suddenly, in the third stanza, at this gloomy moment a frail old thrush begins to sing its sweet song.
The song of the bird, perched in the twigs, seems infinitely joyful or ecstatic.
Hardy is struck that the nearby thrush looks old and frail. Its feathers are ruffled by the strengthening evening wind. Yet it has joy in its heart.
The poet imagines that the bird through its song is throwing its soul out to the spreading darkness.
In the last stanza, Hardy claims the surrounding dark land provides little reason for this outburst of joyful singing.
It reminds him of a carol. The song begins to sweeten his gloomy mood.
Hardy suddenly realises the song of the thrush in the falling darkness represents hope.
The poet is in a pleasantly sad mood as he leans alone on the gate watching the century fade into darkness. But he clings on to the sad mood. He is addicted to it. The hopeful song of the bird adds a new mood. Hardy becomes aware for the first time that evening of a new hope of things to come.
He realises that there is a reason to hope, without knowing what that reason is. It is clear that the thrush alone senses this hope and expresses it.
This is probably nature’s way of reminding him that spring always follows winter. Or it may be a spiritual message from nature. It is certainly uplifting.
Themes
Time
Hardy sets the poem at sunset on the last day of the nineteenth century. He compares the sun to a weakening eye and this shows Hardy’s regret at the fact that the day, year and century are ending at once. Hardy feels like it may be the end of the world. He shows his sorrow at the ending of the century by comparing the outline or silhouette of the land to a corpse, with the sky as the roof of a tomb. The darkness and the lifeless appearance of nature depress Hardy. He seems to feel that everything comes to an end: end of day, end of year, end of century and end of life. Time moves on.
Nature
The title suggests that the poem is about a popular bird, the thrush. But the poem at first seems to focus on the time of year and the state of the landscape. Hardy portrays a bleak or sad and gloomy winter landscape. The trees seem broken. Nothing is growing in the earth. Everything is either getting weak or seems dead. There are no leaves on the trees. The poet only sees stems and twigs. Humans stay inside at their fires rather than look upon the winter scene. The frost is ghostly. The wind makes a sorrowful noise in the trees. Nature in winter is eerie or ghostly. Only a thrush breaks the dark wintry silence and its song shows up the empty silence around it. The thrush represents something spiritual in nature that the poet suddenly becomes aware of.
Hope
For no apparent reason a thrush bursts into song on the depressing last evening of the year and century. Hardy seems to find comfort in the beauty of the thrush’s song. The thrush may stand for the hope that spring will return to the landscape. The song of the bird creates a balance between music and the howl of the wind. The song of the bird compensates for the sadness of the wintry scene. The source of the bird’s joy is mysterious. It seems a spiritual expression of something deep in nature. The words of the poet suggest that it is like a religious experience for him.
Music
in nature The song of the thrush dominates the end of the poem. It seems to change sorrow into happiness. Before the thrush sang, the howl of the wind dominated the landscape and created a mood like a funeral. This poem shows that nature can create either sad or joyful music. The weather and time of year can be a source of sorrow or a source of joy. The poem shows that nature creates sad music that laments winter. But nature also creates joyful music that looks forward to the future. At one point of the poem, the striking image of the broken lyre suggests that Hardy is finished with music. The wind howling in the trees gives the impression of someone playing a horrible tune on a broken lyre. This may be due to the overwhelming sadness that Hardy is feeling. Then the song of the thrush seems to revive Hardy’s spirit. He feels joy at its music. Despite his sorrow and despair, Hardy creates a musical poem through rhyme and repetition. It is strange that this poem is both a lament for the death of music and a celebration of its rebirth.
Style
Structure - This poem has four stanzas with a regular number of lines in each, eight.
Rhyme - Every second line rhymes, so there is a regular pattern. This is like the regular pattern of seasons in nature.
Diction - Some of the words are unusual and belong to an old way of using English. Words like ‘coppice’ [close group of trees], ‘spectre’ [ghost] and ‘darkling’ [in the dark] are unusual nowadays. So too are ‘bine-stems’ [creepers], ‘lyre’ [harp], ‘crypt’ [tomb], ‘germ’ [seed], ‘fervour’ [life], ‘evensong’ [hymn], ‘carolings’ [joyful song], ‘terrestrial’ [land], ‘nigh’ [near] and ‘whereof’ [of which]. Hardy also uses unusual combinations of words like ‘death-lament’ and ‘outleant’, meaning leaning out. The combination ‘blast-beruffled’ describes the way the thrush’s feathers are blown by the wind. Hardy structures his words into sentences that take up to four lines. It is important to notice the run-on-lines and read the poem accordingly. Hardy uses a lot of single adjectives before nouns.
Full Stops and Commas - Hardy places a full stop at the end of every stanza and either a full stop, a semi-colon or comma to form a break at line four in each stanza.
Comparison - Hardy uses a metaphor to compare the frost to a grey ghost at dusk. Hardy uses a simile of a broken lyre or harp to give us a picture of the leafless bine-stems or bare trunks that look black against the western sky. Hardy uses the metaphor of dregs to suggest the fading light of dusk. In other metaphors, the dark shape of the land is a corpse and the sky is a tomb. The poet uses the words ‘evensong’ and ‘carolings’ as metaphors to suggest that listening to the thrush is a religious experience. The metaphor of the ‘broken lyre’ expresses the idea that humans are too sad and depressed to make any more music.
Personification - In referring to the sun’s eye, Hardy is personifying the sun. He personifies the landscape as a corpse. He personifies the wind because he imagines the sound it makes in the trees is a funeral song or lament.
Contrast [difference] - Hardy contrasts himself as a depressed human to the joyful thrush. He also contrasts himself, the lonesome poet, to everyone else who has gone indoors to enjoy the fires. Hardy contrasts the thrush in the tree with its spiritual music to dead things in the ground, ‘terrestrial things’. There is a contrast between the unhappy sad mood of ‘shrunken hard and dry’ and the joyful feeling aroused by the ‘ecstatic sound’ of the singing thrush. The poet’s despair contrasts to the bird’s happiness. There is a striking contrast between the song of the frail bird and the image of the broken lyre, suggesting human music has ceased.
Hyperbole [Exaggeration] - Hardy exaggerates the bleak mood by pretending that the earth is a corpse. It is like he is imagining the world is going to end just because the century is ending. It is hyperbole to suggest the bird’s joy is infinite or ‘illimited’.
Tone - The tone throughout the poem is gloomy, like when Hardy compares the landscape to a corpse and when he refers to the ‘growing gloom’. The poet feels lonely, especially in the image at the end of the first stanza. The reference to a ‘spectre’ and the word ‘haunted’ suggest an anxious tone. These words in turn create a cold, eerie mood for the reader of the poem. The word’s ‘crypt’ and ‘corpse’ create a spooky atmosphere. In the last two stanzas the tone becomes hopeful due to words such as ‘joy’, ‘ecstatic’, ‘happy’ and ‘hope’.
Repetition - The fact that there is regular rhyme helps to emphasise the poet’s feeling that everything is speeding towards death. In another sense the rhyme and other sound effects create a poetic music that echoes both the wind and the thrush in different parts of the poem.
Assonance [similar vowel sound repetition] - In the first stanza a series of long ‘e’ sounds in various words creates a sad music that matches the meaning of the poem.
Alliteration [repetition of consonant sounds at the start of nearby words] - The ‘b’ in ‘blast’ and ‘bird’ links the bird and the strengthening wind.
Sibilance [repetition of ‘s’ sound] - Note how the ‘s’ sounds in ‘cause for carolings of such ecstatic sound’ creates a soft music that suits the bird. This soft sound is in contrast to the harsh sound used by Hardy to bring to mind the bleak wintry setting: ‘blast-beruffled’.
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happy err.. late Easter? haha this just proves how often i'm not on dA, ^_^; thanks for the happy vibes
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hehe thank youu, really appreciate it
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your welcome..ur gallery is amazing..seriously! xD
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your welcome, that gallery was neat ^^
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Interested in A.T. are we now? haha might just add D.V. to mine haha pwned, well.. 
laterz.
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lmao..oh u no do u? how supricing, ^^ well u should otherwise..well nvm tht..ujust SHOULD! lol
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Haha what ever you say.
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hey thank u soo much for the 
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lol, thats gd to hear then, actually boring my ass of school atm...get me out of here!
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heyheyeeheyeheyeheyehey lolol
>.> look forward to the crap you put on here hah just kidding
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heyheyeeheyeheyeheyehey lolol
>.> look forward to the crap you put on here hah just kidding
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