This poem has not been translated into any other language yet. [2] A deleted '1899' on the poem's manuscript suggests that it may have been written in that year. I will tell you why she rarely ventured from her house. In order to gain financial stability, Hardy first published novels, including such classics as Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.

So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew, And I was unaware. Perhaps there is a connection here between song and joy. One of my favorites. Read poems about / on: birth, winter, happy, joy, hope, wind, sky, death, night, fire, The Darkling Thrush Poem by Thomas Hardy - Poem Hunter, Poem Submitted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002. The reference to low clouds and wind add to the eerie, death like vision of the countryside which is barren and fruitless where nothing has the incentive or energy to grow. Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air "The Darkling Thrush" is a poem by Thomas Hardy. What the poet is hoping for is less clear. Hard to find a better poem. This poem is both beautiful and macarbre. I feel you                               ... sometimes I strain                                       ... Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset County, England, where he studied architecture, but he later quit to pursue a literary career. Such detail painted here! Lyric is a poetic genre in which an individual speaker narrates a personal emotional experience; “The Darkling Thrush” is, in fact, a fairly straightforward example of lyric poetry.

Yet here the lyre strings are “broken.”. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound. "The Darkling Thrush" is a poem by Thomas Hardy. I think they are right. The poem was later published in London Times on 1 January, 1901. © Poems are the property of their respective owners. You empathize with the poet's mood. Originally titled "By the Century's Deathbed", it was first published on 29 December 1900 in The Graphic. It commences in the personal, subjective mode, but the poet’s feelings and mood are suggested by his observations of nature, rather than by direct statements. The poets indication that the celebration of Christmas may be futile or a complete lack of faith are revealed in the final two lines where he questions hope. A fantastic positive message to bring forth into the new century. You feel the cold, sense the death and grayness of the surround. There is hope of which unlike the poet the bird is aware of, but this awareness of hope drawn from the awareness of the bird can be a source of hope even for the poet! 'Century's corpse outleant' however, refers not to a corpse of 'man', but (if you check when the poem was written) to the passing of the 19thC. This is an English west country scene in which there were no vines, but bine probably refers to bindweed or convulvulous or maybe old man's beard which does tangle in thorn bushes and die off to stems in winter. It is worth noting that the thrush in the poem has to be old and nearing his end because he symbolizes the death of the 19th century, which for Hardy is moribund and by implication threatens to cast its dark shadow over the century about to be born. has a superb detailed setting of a wasteland scene, the more effectively to contrast with the redemptive voice of the thrush, first described at exactly the mid-point of the poem. Despite this the thrush is saying through his joyful song that the future is not all bleak and the poet shouldn't despair. The skill to paint such a bleak scene and then pierce it with hope, leaving the reader uplifted and inspired. The hope of which the thrush sings is for the return of spring. You may have guessed that this is one of my favourite poems and one I've committed to memory. [4], "Poem of the week: The Darkling Thrush, by Thomas Hardy", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Darkling_Thrush&oldid=977683693, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 10 September 2020, at 09:37. I always enjoy Hardy he is delightful. ‘Bine-stems’ appears both in the original version of the poem and above, and this is also true of ‘aged’ thrush, so I’m unclear what Keith and Jack and are on about. In the first stanza the poet places himself in an evening winter landscape leaning on a gate surveying all that can be seen. A deleted '1899' on the poem's manuscript … The second stanza begins with a personification and compares the landscape to the body of a corpse who has lived to be very old (100 years) was perhaps crippled or certainly at the end of life without substance or sapp as in youth. Life just may be worth continuing after all.

The use of the word "darkling" recalls the same word in Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach (1867), a poem about loss of faith. Every cloud has a silver lining is the moral of the story. Hardy’s dark, bleak verse was at odds with his Victorian contemporaries who tended to present more optimistic perspectives on life. The poem, The Darkling Thrush, is written in the form of a an ode, conventionally a lyric poem in the form of an address to a … The land's sharp features seemed to me The Century's corpse outleant, Its crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind its death-lament. A Poet of the 19th Century he wrote poems and novels about those who lived in the countryside of southern England. The Darkling Thrush (suggestive title!) Thomas Hardy is reputed to have written ‘ The Darkling Thrush’ on New Year’s Eve, 1900, at the dawn of a new century. I will read more of his works before deciding whether or not to make him one of my favorite poets. Brilliant poetry that left me standing with him in those cold, desolate woods! has a superb detailed setting of a wasteland scene, the more effectively to contrast with the redemptive voice of the thrush, … A wonderful journey of darkness into light and hope. This has just become one of my favorite poems. Definitely one of my favourite ever poets. It is significant that the bird, bringing ‘joy unlimited, ’ is described as ‘ancient, frail, gaunt and small’ as Hardy in old age wrote poems of outstanding merit – a possible parallel.

Birds don't live long enough through the English winter to become 'ancient' but I've seen many scruffy 'aged' thrushes. In stanza three the original reads ‘in’ (not ‘with’) blast-beruffled plume' –far better!

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. That I could think there trembled through. It happened like this:One day she took the train to Boston,made her way to the darkened room,put her name down in cursive scriptand waited her turn. In the end, the speaker concludes, on a pessimistic note, that the small bird possesses "some blessed Hope, whereof he knew and I was unaware." [3] It was later included in a collection entitled Poems of the Past and the Present (1901). Commenting on the length of day; the weather; the fact that everyone is at home around their hearth; one can see the picture painted is of a fruitless and barren time of year owing to the reference made to the vine. [1] The poem was later published in London Times on 1 January, 1901. The Darkling Thrush (suggestive title!) It is very well crafted and has a poignant message. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge... Recite this poem (upload your own video or voice file).
Well known critics have rated this poem as one of the best short poems in the English language. I believe two changes need to be made to the words on the web site. The sudden intervention of song from such a poor, forsaken creature brings tears. I agree wholeheartedly with Keith. By referring to lyres, the poem thus harkens back to the very beginnings of its own genre. I'm sure that 'vine-stems' should be 'bine-stems'. Originally titled "By the Century's Deathbed", it was first published on 29 December 1900 in The Graphic.
The 2 changes he refers to are departures from the original. Also in versions of this poem I've seen previously the thrush is 'aged' not 'ancient' and I prefer that. An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom. In the third stanza the poet reveals the powerful voice of a thrush and his effort to disrupt the scene. Finally, the poet can't understand what the bird finds to sing about. The evocation of place is outstanding. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead, In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited. and the uncertainty of beginning a new one - particularly with the regrets and failing in his personal life foremost in his mind. I wonder why one particular Hardy poem and not others, equally deserving, attracts comments? I leant upon a coppice gate, When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. Great imaginations of the great poet on the new era of hope and changing into the new era which may be brighter than darkness and it is a great imagination there. The first -DG- stanzas open with a description of the dreary, bleak winter landscape, but the melancholy tone is transformed by the bright, optimistic singing of "an aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small."

What IS different is ‘his’ (not its) crypt in stanza two, line three, which becomes ‘his’death lament in line four. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervorless as I. An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small, With blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom. Once he was well known and well off financially, he returned to poetry, his first love.