Hardy's the Darkling Thrush

1936 Words8 Pages
Thomas Hardy, a poet and novelist, from southwest England born June 2, 1840, is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 19th and 20th century. Hardy drew his inspiration from nature, religion, his relationships and the death of his wife, modernization and its effects on the landscape, in other words, the harshness of the reality he was living in. Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" was originally called "The Century's End, 1900" and was first printed in The Graphic on 29 December of that year. As according to Claire Tomalin, in her biography, Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man. "The Darkling Thrush" seems oddly to recall his childhood; waiting each evening for the setting sun to light up the red-painted staircase in the family house. This poem by Thomas Hardy was written on December, 31st, 1899, in a spirit of anticipation of a brand new century. The analysis of the poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy is being done to further analyse what the Thrush itself symbolises. Also an Investigating Hardy’s true meaning of the Thrush by emphasising on his use of literary techniques which are imagery and meter and is the researcher’s main focus in this piece. The poem is about a man (persona) leaning against a coppice gate of a thicket grove of small trees and watching the grey frost in the form of the spectre which giving the persona the allusion something very unpleasant will happen in the near future. The severe cold season had weakened the heat of the sun and the sky looked cloudy and gloomy. The twisted stems that dropped down hanging from the tall trees and massive plants stood in awe of the cold dropping sky and looked like the broken strings of a lyre an ancient musical instrument. People rushed home seeking the warmth of their household fire from their busy scheduled. The landscape looked like a fresh corpse of the century, as if nature was at its
Open Document