“The Darkling Thrush” is set in a winter landscape, most likely England at the turn of the twentieth century. The poet, Thomas Hardy, spent his life in England and wrote this poem there in the winter of 1900. The landscape is agricultural and sparsely populated; its topography is rugged and harsh.
What is the significance of the time when The Darkling Thrush was published?
The time in which “The Darkling Thrush” was written is significant because it was the end of the century. It may have been written in 1899, but it was originally published on December 29, 1900, just a few days before what many people considered the beginning of a new century.
What is the main theme of the poem The Darkling Thrush?
The primary theme of “The Darkling Thrush” is the despair of the modern temperament. Hardy describes in lyrical, descriptive detail the dying of the old world, but he cannot positively replace the dying with the new. Something is over, all is changed, civilization has decayed, and he does not know what will replace it.
Why is the speaker leaning on the Coppice Gate?
The speaker’s posture leaning “upon a coppice gate,” for example, is like the “Century’s corpse outleant.” By juxtaposing the chaos of a dying world with the order of its description, Hardy illustrates and underscores his own status as a poet with one foot in Victorian England and the other in the modern world.
What are Bine stems?
Definition of bine
: a twining stem or flexible shoot (as of the hop) also : a plant (such as woodbine) whose shoots are bines.
How is the evening described in the beginning of the poem The Darkling Thrush?
The poet, in a sad mood, is leaning upon a wooden gate. He is all alone as there is no one else visible at this time of the hour on a very cold, wintry evening. It is the evening time. The light of the sun is fading fast.
What does Fervourless mean?
fervourless –empty of fervour, passion, intensity.
What is the main conflict in the poem The Darkling Thrush?
the main conflict of the poem the darkling thrush is that of it”s the very end of the day. In fact, it’s the very end of the year. The countryside is frozen into an icy, unwelcoming landscape.
How is the poem The Darkling Thrush related to the end of century?
In the poem The Darkling Thrush the poet expresses his despair regarding this decay of a traditional and natural world. Written at the turn of the 20th century, the elegy laments the end of the century which was more natural, more humane and livelier to him.
What is the meaning of Darkling Thrush?
The Darkling Thrush’ is rich in metaphor. ‘Darkling’ means ‘of the darkness’, and conveys an ‘end of days’ metaphor. Here the dusk doesn’t just refer to the dimming of light. On a deeper level, we deal with despair and death of the century. Add the winter landscape to this, and things get more dismal.
What does the thrush symbolize in The Darkling Thrush?
The thrush in this poem symbolizes hope and happiness. One can find optimism anytime. If a frail bird can sing it’s heart out, even during the most desolate of times find some blessed Hope, the speaker believes humans can do the same too.
How did the bine stems scored the sky?
Lines 5-6 – ‘The tangled bine-stems scored the sky like strings of broken lyres’. The use of the word ‘scored’ suggests that all the poet sees is destruction when he looks at the ‘bine-stems’.
Is The Darkling Thrush an elegy?
One of his more popular works is “The Darkling Thrush,” in which the speaker hears a thrush singing in the gloom. The poem is often seen as an elegy for the nineteenth century.
What does the century’s corpse mean?
In the second stanza the imagery is extended to include the “Century’s corpse” such that the leaden sky becomes the roof of a crypt in which the century’s tomb might be placed and the wind is its “death lament”. It is not just the century that has died; it has taken with it the certainties of the Christian religion.
