“The Darkling Thrush” Introduction

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“The Darkling Thrush” Summary

“The Darkling Thrush” Themes

• 

  Nature and the Decline of Human Civilization

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• 

  Hope and Renewal

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• 

  Despair and Isolation

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Darkling Thrush”

• Lines 1-4

  I leant upon a coppice gate
        When Frost was spectre-grey,
  And Winter's dregs made desolate
        The weakening eye of day.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
        Like strings of broken lyres,
  And all mankind that haunted nigh
        Had sought their household fires.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  The land's sharp features seemed to be
        The Century's corpse outleant,
  His crypt the cloudy canopy,
        The wind his death-lament.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  The ancient pulse of germ and birth
        Was shrunken hard and dry,
  And every spirit upon earth
        Seemed fervourless as I.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  At once a voice arose among
        The bleak twigs overhead
  In a full-hearted evensong
        Of joy illimited;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
        In blast-beruffled plume,
  Had chosen thus to fling his soul
        Upon the growing gloom.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  So little cause for carolings
        Of such ecstatic sound
  Was written on terrestrial things
        Afar or nigh around,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-32

  That I could think there trembled through
        His happy good-night air
  Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
        And I was unaware.

  

  

  

  

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“The Darkling Thrush” Symbols

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  Frost

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  Eye of Day

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• 

  Lyre

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• 

  Fires

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• 

  Germ and Birth

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• 

  Hope

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• 

  Thrush

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“The Darkling Thrush” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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“The Darkling Thrush” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Coppice
• Spectre-grey
• Dregs
• Bine-stems
• Scored
• Lyre
• Haunted
• Nigh
• Outleant
• Crypt
• Death-lament
• Pulse
• Germ
• Fervourless
• Evensong
• Illimited
• Gaunt
• Blast-beruffled
• Plume
• Fling
• Carolings
• Terrestrial
• Air
• Whereof

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Darkling Thrush”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Darkling Thrush” Speaker

“The Darkling Thrush” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Darkling Thrush”

More “The Darkling Thrush” Resources

• External Resources

  • What is Evensong? — St. Thomas Church in New York City offers a brief definition and explanation of evensong.

  • The Industrial Revolution — From the British Library, a discussion of the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

  • Poem of the Week: The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy — Carol Rumens offers a detailed analysis of Hardy's poem in an article for the Guardian newspaper.

  • "The Darkling Thrush" Read Aloud — Tim Gracyk reads "The Darkling Thrush" aloud.

  • More About Thomas Hardy — A detailed biography of Thomas Hardy from the Poetry Foundation.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Thomas Hardy

  • A Broken Appointment

  • Afterwards

  • At an Inn

  • At Castle Boterel

  • A Wife in London

  • Channel Firing

  • Drummer Hodge

  • Hap

  • He Never Expected Much

  • Neutral Tones

  • The Convergence of the Twain

  • The Man He Killed

  • The Oxen

  • The Ruined Maid

  • The Voice

  • Weathers

  • Where the Picnic Was