ISC

ENGLISH LITERATURE PROJECT

2023-2024

NAME-TRESHAA PATHAK
CLASS -XII-B
UID-7685278
INDEX NO. - 65
ROLL NO. - 8
Question-Referring closely to the poem The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy describe
the bird and what it represents. How is it a poem of optimism as well as pessimism.
 Introduction
‘The Darkling Thrush’ was written by Thomas Hardy in 1899. Originally titled ‘By the
Century’s Deathbed, 1900’, it was published on December 29, 1900, in The Graphic, a
weekly newspaper. In this poem, the poet describes his feelings and also the feelings of an
entire nation at the passing of a century and the transition between the Victorian era (1837 –
1901) and the Modern era. When Thomas Hardy wrote ‘The Darkling Thrush’ one the
threshold of the twentieth century, he himself was making a transition, from writing novels to
writing poetry exclusively. The Victorian era was marked by intense and rapid change in
politics, society and religious beliefs due to the developments in science and technology.
Thomas Hardy was disillusioned with the ways in which industrialisation was changing
human beings, their relation to their environment and the slow decline of his beloved country
side. These changes created a feeling of hopelessness and bleak future in the poet’s mind
which is reflected in the poem.
“The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy is a poem that juxtaposes pessimism and optimism.
The bird in the poem represents the enduring beauty of nature and the resilience of life,
providing a glimmer of hope in the midst of despair. Through this contrast, the poem explores
the complex interplay between darkness and light, pessimism and optimism, ultimately
leaving the reader with a sense of both melancholy and possibility.
The darkling thrush is a carefully chosen symbol in Thomas Hardy’s poem that embodies the
themes of nature’s resilience, hope in the face of despair, and the contrast between the beauty
of the natural world and the harshness of the human one. The bird’s presence and song was
integral to the poem’s exploration of these themes and add depth and complexity to the
overall message of the poem.

Setting and The Desolate Winter Landscape

The speaker of “The Darkling Thrush” is a typical Hardy character: a watcher, a thinker, one
who projects onto the physical world his own emotional turmoil. The poem begins with the
narrator leaning on a gate looks at the darkening countryside. Due to the cold effect of the
winter which is giving a ghost like resemblance, the landscape is anything but encouraging.
The word ‘leant’ suggests tiredness or dejection. The word gate is symbolic of 1) new
century, 2) new beginning and 3) new place, also a gate denotes both an end as well as
beginning. Strings of ‘broken-lyres’ is used to describe the dull desolation brought about by
the winter. Paradoxically, the world revolves around the speaker, yet also seems to ignore
him. This intense inwardness is seen in how the speaker characterises other people. It is not
just some people or some families that are lost but “all mankind” that has retreated from
nature’s threatening landscape, it also suggests a universal refusal to engage with the wintry
surroundings and thus, the only person standing outside watching this landscape is the
narrator, with no hope of getting any warmth.

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 Contrast and Symbolism
The alliteration ‘this crypt the cloudy canopy’ heightens the gloomy atmosphere of the setting
and the brooding mood of the poem. The use of ‘crypt’ to refer to the cloudy sky links ‘The
Century’s corpse’ to the ‘death lament’ of the wind, thus completing the sides and sounds of
a funeral. The seed which has been representative of life since time in memorial has
shrivelled up and has become hard and dry symbolising the defeat and death of life to the
deathly winter. All seem helpless in front of the hopeless winter. The sense of loss is
everywhere, even in the procreative powers of nature itself – ‘the ancient pulse of germ and
birth,’ which is now ‘shrunken hard and dry.’ There is just the recognition of a passing and a
sense of gloom that generalises everything. For him, the world is going from bad to worse,
and the century’s passing is merely a way to keep time of misery’s march. This makes the
song of the thrush in the third stanza all the more powerful and lends a much greater
significant to the hopeful challenge
The first two stanzas show the bleak winters landscape symbolizing the decay of western
civilisation. It is not just the death of the old century, but the death of pulse of life that
vitalises and energises the narrator, the nature and other people.

Shift in Mood and Message

Thomas Hardy made a great use of element of surprise by beginning the third stanza with a
sudden ‘At once’, it is sharply contrasted with the first two stanzas of dull inaction and
effectively usher the third and fourth stanza as both replete with hope and light. What is
remarkable about the third stanza is that it diverts the reader’s attention to both the song and
the singer. The little bird is in no better shape than his surroundings. It is not a young, stout,
beautiful bird that is singing such a joyous song. Rather, we are told that he is an aged thrush.
In short, this is a bird which is old and weak, has possibly not eaten for days and his feathers
has received the full blow of the winter wind, which has been likened to a dirge. The speaker
is so engrossed in his thoughts of hopelessness that even the joyful song of the thrush does
not herald any hope for the future in the new century. The situation is reflected in the words
“blast-beruffled” that emphasise the power of the wind and the puny status of the thrush. The
thrush choses to “…fling his soul/Upon the growing gloom”. “Fling” is a verb that seems to
hint at a careless, hopeless action, as if the thrush were seeking in vain to represent the forces
of hope. Furthermore, the speaker himself is unaware of any bright hope.
The thrush sings a song of evening rather than morning. The song of the thrush symbolises
the speaker’s fervour less spirit, but the thrush himself is aged, “frail, gaunt and small”. It
does not symbolise new life but clings to the dying old century. Even after hearing the
thrush’s “full-hearted evensong of joy illimited,” the speaker’s depression is lifted only as far
as a state of puzzlement. He comes into the new century unable to think about any reason that
can make the thrush, a representative of nature, with a hope.
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Though the speaker can recognise joy in the bird’s song he cannot experience it himself.
However, the word ‘blessed’ and the capitalisation of ‘hope’ suggests there might be
religious or spiritual reasons for the bird’s joyful singing. Fourth, hope and charity are the
three Christian virtues and the speaker has personified ‘hope’ as if it were a human being
giving hope to mankind. It is as indirect reference to Jesus Christ. The word ‘hope’ also
represents Victorian English society.

Transformation and Renewal

The fourth stanza displays the interplay of hope and despair vis-à-vis the human subject. The
port says that no great reason for such a joyous song was visible. In the landscape far or near
him. Also, the word ‘terrestrial’ may either refer to the landscape or the spiritual realm. The
use of word ‘evensong’ and ‘carolings’ bears a religious connection which was written by an
age where religion was haunted by the spectre of cold, calculating, rational thought over
taking its established authority. In the force of this onslaught of doubt, the only resistance
could be provided by the ‘blessed hope’ of a tiny thrush. The poet comes to the conclusion
that the joyful song of the tiny bird carried with it some blessed hope which the thrush could
sense and on which the speaker was unaware. The bird’s “ecstatic sound” is not founded in
reason or faith. For a moment perhaps there is a note of hope, he “could think” there was
some hope for the frosty world. But he cannot sustain his belief. In the end, the speaker has
no hope; he only observes with a touch of irony that the thrush seems to have hope.

Conclusion
The poem ends on an optimistic note. The fact that this pitiable soul chooses to sing his
optimistic song despite the adverse situation is what makes his song all the more impactful
when all hope seems lost and when death immobilizes all, it is the tiny, imperfect, old bird
who sings a song of hope, which becomes a testament of life and the thrush becomes the
harbinger of hope. The poem explores the theme of human disillusionment and the contrast
between the human condition and the indifference of nature. The appearance of the thrush,
however, represents a glimmer of transcendence, suggesting that beauty and vitality can exist
even in the midst of darkness. This juxtaposition highlights the human struggle for meaning
in a world that seems indifferent to their plight. The conclusion of the poem lies in its
exploration of existential themes and the potential for finding solace and hope amidst despair.

TOTAL NUMBER OF WORDS= 1541

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 Bibliography
 Reverie
 Guide Reverie
 Wikipedia
 Javatpoint