Darking Thrush

Question 1

What is the poem about?

Answer 1

Hardy is walking on a cold, miserable winters day and hears a thrush singing cheerfully. He doesn’t know what good there is to sing about in this world.

Question 2

What is the rhyming structure?

Why is it like this?

Answer 2

ABABCDCD
Regular alternate rhyme
The regular rhyme contrasts to the content of the poem as it is discussing the overpowering ability of industrialisation. Where as the regular ‘perfect’ structure makes the descriptions stand out.
At the same time, this rhythm makes it sound quite like a nursery rhyme although it is quite lifeless, the themes only emphasise the monotonous, repetitive rhythm.

Question 3

Context of the poem

Answer 3

Written in 1899, the poem is about the end of the century. The bleak vision of a desolate winter landscape is a deliberate referents to the poetry of the past, particularly Keats and romanticism as if he is still clinging on to the past.
Reference to Keats ‘ode to a nightingale’ and ‘what the thrush said’ - this is a DARKLING thrush so it is particularly pessimistic.

Question 4

What happens to the romantic motif of birdsong?

Answer 4

You could say that it is beautiful and redemptive however it seems almost lost in the gloom of the landscape and the speakers mood (the use quotes to show gloom of landscape)

Question 5

Good quotes in the first stanza:

Answer 5

‘Frost was spectre-grey’
‘Weakening use of day’
‘Tangled bine-stems’
‘Like strings of broken lyres’

Question 6

“When Frost was spectre-grey”

Answer 6

Frost has a capital letter as if it is personified or a proper noun, this gives it an energy or presence as it is so powerful and controlling.
It makes it seem ubiquitous - prominent/everywhere in the landscape.
More like a Greek God now, powerful and shows the power of nature (contrast to what he thinks will happen with technology in new century?)

Spectre-grey has a lifeless rhythm which relates to the meaning as it is a ghost. The colourless, lifeless theme links to his opinions of the industrialised landscape.

Question 7

‘the weakening eye of day’

Answer 7

This literally denotes the setting of the sun and has connotations with the dying of the century. Very pessimistic.
‘Weakening’ has connotations with sick or old people, he feels helpless to the ageing of the earth and despair.
Eye personifies day, making it more personal to hardy as if he is losing something as the sun sets.
Eye site weakens when you get older, his vision could represent his perspective and understanding of the world. As he and the earth get older they will both change and he won’t be able to see or understand it as clearly.

The narrator’s understanding of the world and nature is vivid in the way that it fluctuates throughout the poem. The word eye personifies or but instead of providing it with power and emotion, it is taken away by the previous word ‘weakening’.

Question 8

‘Tangling bine-stems score the sky’

Answer 8

Bine-stems are dried out and have lost their leaves in the winter.
Score is used to mean cutting into the sky but also could be a wordplay on music, works with ‘lyres’ in the next line.
If music was in the sky for me that has connotations with the end of the world, particularly if the lyres are ‘broken’ or out of key.
Tangled links to his confusion and anxiety about the next century, as if that is how he feels or his thoughts are muddled.

Question 9

“Like strings of broken lyres”

Answer 9

Broken like classics
There is a lot of similarities at the time between classical music and poetry.
Poetry was like a song.
Because of the regular alternate rhyme it is quite like a song too.

Question 10

Quotes for the second stanza

Answer 10

Lands sharp features
The Century’s corpse
Death-lament
‘Every spirit on earth’

Question 11

The century’s corpse

Answer 11

The fin de siècle gloom

Question 12

“Death-lament”

Answer 12

Song of death
Vernacular / archaic language even though the classicism of poetry is dying he is trying to give it salvation.
This signifies he feels that he belongs in the previous century and is already mourning its death, relating back to song of death because that is kind of what the poem is.

Question 13

“The ancient pulse of gem and birth”

Answer 13

Iambic tetra metre, it has a pulse.
It is paradoxical because no matter how hard he tries there is still joy at the heart of the poem and there are still ‘births’ In nature
(Please improve me)

Question 14

‘And every spirit upon earth seems fervourless as I’

Answer 14

Hardy is assuming that everyone feels the same as him, or perhaps he is basically saying he feels like he is the only person on earth. This is supported by the fact he purposefully chooses the word ‘spirit’ and not ‘person’ which again gives it a ghostly, eerie atmosphere. Maybe he is saying that with the end of the century he feels that people don’t really exist, he has personified Frost and Winter and natural things but seems to have taken away from humans.
It is a synecdoche

Question 15

Quotes in third stanza

Answer 15

In full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited
An aged-thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
Fling his soul

Question 16

“In a full-hearted evensong”

Answer 16

Full-hearted seems completely out of place at first read of this poem since it is so pessimistic. But perhaps it represents Hardy’s rather full hearted attempts to show his disdain for industrialisation and love for poetry (represented by the song of the thrush)
Though it is also out of place in a positive way, like a source of energy in the gloomy landscape of a heart that hasn’t yet lost hope.
Could be seen as naive by hardy.
Evensong is like a prayer, this has connotations with hope and belief in God but here more likely belief in nature and the next century and that it won’t be as bleak as hardy imagines.

Question 17

“Of joy illimited”

Answer 17

One of the few words of emotion and it is out of place, doesn’t really rhyme with overhead.
Means free from limitation
Despite ALL the cause for limitation hardy is giving

Question 18

“An aged-thrush, frail, gaunt and small”

Answer 18

This is hardy talking about himself, he is just one powerless person against the the big world. Especially now with machines taking over as he seems to forebode.
These words make him and the thrush seem weak, slightly diminishing the hope. However it can also show that even though he is ‘small’ and ‘frail’ he still has hope which is even more impressive. If this little thrush can remain positive then that shows Hardy knows somewhere in the midst of the gloom that he can too, the thrush does represent him as well.

Question 19

“Chosen this to fling his soul”

Answer 19

Chosen - implying the bird is aware of the surroundings that have been described as desolate by hardy and yet has chosen still to ‘fling his soul’ in song. This word makes it seem like hardy can’t understand why he would do this

He is literally projecting his voice but it is also like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, like in a new century? Flinging his soul shows this little bird is putting his heart into the new century.
Like hardy flinging his soul into classical poetry. The word fling has an undertone of desperation, not just throw. The world soul is a synecdoche, it represents the birds whole self.

Question 20

Quotes for 4th stanza

Answer 20

So little cause for carolings

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware

Question 21

“So little cause for carolings”

Answer 21

Religious

Symbolises happy winter scene

Question 22

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

And I was unaware

Answer 22

Little punctuation in last stanza though there is a comma after hope as if the whole poem was leading up to this.

Yet as he does in the whole poem he consciously undermines any hope that springs from nature and says he is ‘unaware’ of any hope that might be in the next century. Even if there is ‘hope’ for some ‘spirits’ if you can’t find it like hardy, it doesn’t exist and there is no use for it.

He seems to feel sorry for the thrush because he is oblivious of the changes of the world. Though I personally feel sadder for hardy as he is so resilient and pessimistic and from my perspective in the 21st century I can see all the good technology did bring. (Classical poetry must still be alive if we are still studying him). Perhaps hardy should be jealous that the thrush is oblivious to the negativity.

Maybe the ending is saying we will never know.

Hardy did write the poem so he can’t be completely ‘unaware’ that there is positivity in the world as he claims, he is just too pessimistic to accept it and is stuck in the past. I think His love for nature is clearer here than a poem that describes it positively, like he only realised how much he loved his wife when she died, this is what makes it particularly memorable for me.