Theme of The Poem The Darkling Thrush' .: Line Wise Explanation

Theme of the poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’ ….
Thomas Hardy wrote this poem when England was in the cusp of the Second Industrial
Revolution. The advent of revolutionary methods of steel making, power generation, use of
steam engines for transportation, mass manufacturing etc. were changing the face of British
society dramatically. The changes brought huge increase in wealth and inspired the
entrepreneurs to look overseas for their burgeoning production. The availability of electric
lighting made it possible to run factories at night. Men and women left homes at night to work
in factories.
Thomas Hardy saw, first hand, how the traditional British ways of community living was being
upended, irreversibly. He felt, the changes were doing great harm to social harmony, and was
aggravating exploitation of the poor. The pursuit of wealth at any cost was robbing his country
of the tranquility and peace of British society. Undoubtedly, he was deeply disturbed. Contrary
to the economists and politicians, he saw no good in such radical changes in England’s
economic life that had been historically rooted to agriculture.
The gloom and chill of snowfall that he describes in the poem are manifestation of his gloomy
future he saw for his country. The withdrawal of people into their homes to escape the ghoulish
cold is a metaphor for the way many citizens felt great unease in the fast-changing social scene.
By hibernating inside their homes, they are trying to wait out the spell of devastating and
painful changes in their living styles.
Thomas Hardy was heart-broken, but not finished. He felt England could never perish, and the
beautiful core values of the English society would survive the onslaught of the machines and
the factories. The Darkling Thrush appearing from nowhere and flying away defiantly in that
morbid environment symbolizes the poet’s optimism about the future. The thoughtful and
sensitive Hardy affirms his belief that England’s social life will not be crushed under the weight
of industrialization.
Line wise explanation:
Stanza 1 …
I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

Meaning … The insufferable winter is drawing near. There is snow everywhere. Life on earth is
grinding to a halt. The landscape looks so lifeless, so ghoulish. The speaker leans over a gate
that stood amidst shrubs and plants. His eyes fall on the tree that stands bereft of its foliage.
The winter’s chill has stripped the tree of its leaves. Only the twigs and stems are left to peer
skywards. They look like a derelict musical string instrument, whose strings are cut. Folks have
retreated to their homes to escape the biting cold outside. Daily activities have been cut to the
minimum in such a forbiding environment.
Stanza 2 …
The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
Meaning .. The whole place looks so devoid of any activity. There is no hustle bustle, no
exuberance, and nothing to cheer for. The town’s mortuary stands silent and alone. A dark
cloud hovers over it to further accentuate the gloom and doom feeling. The wind blows with a
deadly howl. There is no birth, no regeneration and no revival. Life seems to be trapped in an
ice age. The poet is feeling passionless.
Stanza 3 …
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
Meaning ….Amidst this deafening silence and graveyard-like doom and despondency, the
speaker hears a strange loud sound emanating from the background of the dry lifeless twigs
and stems of the nearby tree. It catches the speaker by surprise. The strange sound seems to
announce that hope and health is returning. The speaker discovers that an old, enfeebled
thrush with frayed plumes is crying out. But, the intent of the thrush in making the cry, when
all life forms are on the verge of eternal silence, baffles the speaker. ‘What could be the bird’s
motivation?, wonders the speaker.
Stanza 4 …
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.
Meaning … The thrush’s energetic cry obviously was not announcing the advent of cataclysm
and death. ‘Then, what was it?,’ ponders the speaker. He concludes that the thrush perhaps
knew that everything in this world was not doomed yet, and there was still hope. May be, good
times would soon return, but the speaker was unaware of any such good tidings.
The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy –A critical Analysis

Hardy wrote this poem at the beginning of twentieth century. The poem reflects the poet’s
gloomy mood, and general pessimism with the society that he saw as deeply flawed and unjust.
In some ways it was like nineteenth century Bengal where poverty, and disease were rife, and
the masses reeled under an oppressive feudalistic structure. During the time Hardy wrote The
Darkling Thrush, England was backward and mired in a senseless pursuit of wealth in which the
privileged lass saw any success.
The Darkling Thrush is an expression of the poet’s discomfiture at the society had become sick.
Winter in England is harsh. It makes people suffer, forcing them to hibernate inside their
homes. The two lines
“And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.”
amply demonstrates that the community has slipped into a stupor. By alluding to such a state,
Hardy shows how he perceived England to be then – insipid and emaciated. It has to be borne
in mind that Hardy had reached 60 when he wrote this poem. Life expectancy in England was
just 40 then.
There is nothing in the environment to cheer the poet up. Pessimism was pervasive, but Hardy
had still not broken up. He had a feeling that England could still rise again. When he looks
around, in the midst of the howling cold wind and the snowfall drowning the earth, he sees a
weak Thrush soaring into the sky. He writes
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
Was Hardy an incorrigible optimist? Perhaps, yes. The Thrush he sees rustling into the sky is old,
like him. The hardy bird has not given up. It roars into the sky defying the odds. Does, Hardy
feel his old, degraded society will resurrect itself one day? The answer is ‘yes’. Hardy loved his
country too much to wish its demise.

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Theme of the poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’ ….

Line wise explanation:

The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy –A critical Analysis

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