QUESTION ANSWERS : DARKLING THRUSH

1. Describe some imageries which Hardy has used in his poem

‘The Darkling Thrush’, and what do they signify. Also, mention
the figures of speech that have been used.
Ans. Thomas Hardy has used many imageries related to Nature in
this poem. It speaks about the desolation and turmoil in people’s
lives, and how everything is becoming mechanized. There’s no value
for emotions, and everything is factual. The poem begins with the
speaker leaning on a coppice gate. It is the winter season, and
everything around him is “spectre-grey”, that is, grey as a ghost.
Everything is covered in snow. It is gradually growing dark in “[t]he
weakening eye of day”, which means that the sun is setting slowly.
Here, the Sun is compared to an eye. Further on, he compares the
“tangled bine-stems” to “strings of broken lyres”. The stems of plants
have tangled up in a way that they look like strings of broken musical
instruments, lyres in this case. It means that the environment around
is dead, and has no joy or music in it. As it gets darker and colder, all
the people return to the comfort of their homes. The poet describes
humankind as “all mankind that haunted nigh”, which means that all
people seem to have assumed a ghostly quality. They are devoid of
emotions, and walk like lifeless creatures. Suddenly, a small thrush
erupts out of nowhere and starts singing. It is “[a]n aged thrush, frail,
gaunt, and small”, and has “blast-beruffled plume” meaning
disordered and untidy feathers. The thrush seems to be nearing death,
but is still happy about something. The small bird chooses “to fling
his soul [u]pon the growing gloom”. This line suggests that there is
still hope for the situation to change. The poet has also used different
figures of speech to enhance the lyrical quality of the poem.
Some of them are-
1. Alliteration: It is the repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the
beginning of words. For example- “His crypt the cloudy canopy” In
the above sentence the consonant ‘c’ has been repetitively used.
2. Simile: It is a figure of speech which directly compares two
different things. For example- “The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres”
3. Metaphor: In this, a comparison is done between two different
things but the meaning is not directly stated, instead it is implied. For
example- (a) “The weakening eye of day”- Here, the Sun is compared
to an eye (b) “The Century’s corpse outleant”- The nineteenth century
is compared to a corpse (c) “His crypt the cloudy canopy”- The clouds
are compared to a burial ground (d) “Had chosen thus to fling his
soul”- The singing of the bird is compared to flinging its soul.
4. Personification: In this, non-human objects are attributed human-
like qualities. For example- “The Century’s corpse”- Here, the
nineteenth century has been assumed to be a dead body.
2. How does the poem give out a sense of dreariness during the
nineteenth century?
Ans. The poem was written towards the end of the nineteenth century,
by Thomas Hardy. It represents the hopelessness and chaos of its era.
The Victorian age was marked by growing restlessness, ignorance,
hopelessness, scientific progressions, and religious disbeliefs. The
Englishmen carried out expeditions to turn ignorant people to
Christianity, in order to civilize them. The working class in England
suffered under the capitalists. On the one hand, the English society
witnessed poverty-stricken people, and on the other, there were the
rich people, who hoarded money. People worked in insanitary
conditions day and night, until they ended up becoming invalids, or
embraced death. There were unhappy marriages, and many children
workedas chimney sweepers, who died or got burnt in the process.
Writers like Charles Dickens, and Charlotte Bronte have
appropriately portrayed this grim situation in their works. Thomas
Hardy was apprehensive of the ways in which the Victorian society
was functioning. He longed for the happy times to return.
Industrialisation was replacing people, and Utilitarianism became the
norm of the day. Increasing technology brought nothing but suffering.
Hardy was in favour of agricultural practices that were followed
before the advent of the industrial era. He wanted to return to the rural
traditions. In the poem, the speaker, after experiencing all these
situations, shares a feeling of loneliness in nature. The depression
within him is reflected on to the environment around, in the form of
winter landscape which looks like a corpse. The bine-stems are
compared to strings of broken lyres, which mean that nature has
completely lost its essence, and there’s no music in it to provide peace
to lost souls. The whole humankind seems to be “fervourless”; they
do not have the vigour to work and have lost the ability to love, cry,
or be happy. Everything has become mechanized, and has turned into
a living hell. Amidst this hopelessness, the speaker still holds on to
the faith that probably they shall overcome all this, and things will
change. This hope comes in the form of a thrush. It erupts all of a
sudden from the darkness, and sings a joyful song, thereby sending
the message that not all is lost.
3. Justify the title of the poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’.
Ans. The title of the poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’ has been
appropriately chosen by the poet. The word “darkling” means
growing darkness, while “thrush” is a bird that is grey or brown in
colour, with a spotted body.The title can be a reference to the thrush
arising out of the dark, and spreading hope around, through its song.
The poem starts with the “weakening” of the Sun, which is about to
set. The darkness all aroundis increasing both literally and
metaphorically. It also refers to the darkness of ignorance, and the
scientific progressions that have engulfed the era. The period in
which the poet lived was characterized by growing industrialization,
distrust in religion, and ignorance. The poet is apprehensive of the
approaching time. He wants to relive the days when people were
happy, and lived together. He seems to be living in a wasteland, where
there’s no one he can share his sorrows with. All other people have
gone to the comfort of their homes, as the night befalls. People have
become mechanized characterized by lack of human emotions. The
image of the tangled bine-stems being compared to the strings of
broken lyres conveys the utter silence of the atmosphere. The speaker
compares the features of the landscape to that of a corpse. He also
describes the seeds which were fresh and full of vitality during the
spring season, but are now shrunken and dry. The whole idea of the
land and people being unproductive brings out a very gloomy picture.
But out of this feeling of depression, there comes a little bird. It is
probably the poet’s innermost desire for freedom from the shackles
of ignorance and darkness, which is exhibited in the form of the
thrush. The thrush sings a joyful melody, and the happiness starts
spreading around. The poet capitalizes the ‘H’ in ‘Hope’, thereby
referring to the three Christian virtues of hope, faith, and charity.
Hence, we can say that the thrush arising out of darkness, to spread
its joy around, is justified in the title ‘The Darkling Thrush’.
4. How has nature been portrayed in the poem ‘The Darkling
Thrush’?
Ans. The poem presents a very bleak hope of the future. It starts with
the speaker leaning on a gate, which opens into the woods. It is the
winter season, and everything is cold and lifeless. The landscape
seems to be “spectre-grey”, that is, grey as a ghost. As the day ends,
and the sun sets, the landscape looks desolate, and it becomes colder.
The poet then compares the “tangled bine-stems” to “strings of
broken lyre”. The stems of shrubs are tangled together like the strings
of a musical instrument. The speaker cannot find any happiness or
music in the life around. All the people have gone inside to the
comfort of their homes, while the speaker stands outside on the winter
landscape and ponders on the barrenness. He compares the land to the
sharp features of a dead body. Just like a corpse is cold and inactive,
similarly the mankind and nature have become inactive. The winter
wind seems to be singing a death-song, which is not at all pleasant.
The seeds which sprung during the spring season have now become
hard and dry. They have reduced in size, and are no more capable of
bearing new life. All the activities of nature have come to a pause,
and every spirit on earth is energy less. It is only when a small bird,
a thrush comes into the picture that the speaker begins to talk of hope.
It whole-heartedly sings a beautiful song. The bird, though old
(probably it is nearing its death), is joyful, and spreads this joy onto
the nature around it. However, the speaker cannot understand the
reason behind the thrush’s joy. The speaker starts feeling hopeful of
the future after listening to the bird’s song. In this poem, nature plays
an active part in showcasing the sorrowful and mechanical lives that
the people are living, in the nineteenth century. The growing
industrialization, religious disbeliefs, and scientific progressions
have done great harm to the society, according to the speaker. He
longs for the world that has been left behind. Somehow, the thrush
comes out of nowhere and adds that “Hope” (one of the three
Christian virtues). It could also be said that the speaker believes that
just like the bird erupts from the natural surroundings, similarly
mankind can only survive when it returns to nature.

5. Throw light on the phrase “The ancient pulse of germ and

birth/ Was shrunken hard and dry.” Concerning this, show the
bleakness in 19th century England.
Answer- The famous Victorian poet of the 19th century, Thomas
Hardy wrote The Darkling Thrush, in 1899. Originally, the poem was
under the title of “By the Century’s Daybed 1900”. With its rumbling
imageries and poetic aura, Hardy had conspicuously brought out the
desolation, disparity, bleakness and the Moorish atmosphere of the
19th century England which was about to witness the successive
century.
The phrase referred here loudly roars about the intense and rapid
change caused in the society due to the sudden transition between the
Victorian era (1837-1901) and the Modern era. Thomas has portrayed
here that, how the nature of that time was snatched of its power of
reformation, the vitality of the entire process of “germ and birth” was
altered and left bewildered.
In these following lines, Hardy has staunchly deromanticised nature
by ghastly taking away the capacity for renewal, in a way freakishly
cementing the entire notion of bleakness in Victorian society.
6. Describe with reference to the poem “The Darkling Thrush”
how is the song of the Thrush at the centre of the poem?
Answer- The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy has always struck
the reader’s attention for its immensely strong portrayal of the
contrast of the desolation of the speaker, reflective of his state of
mind, with the joyful song of a thrush.
The thrush referred here is not completely in a jovial condition but
Hardy has meant it to suffer, as evidenced from the words “An aged
thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, / In blast-beruffled plume”.
Yet despite all the difficulties, it sings its ever soothing songs. This
shows us how hard be the hurdles, no day there will always be a ray
of hope that will eventually overcome hardships.
In this way, to show us a typical way of recovery and rejuvenation,
Hardy has brought the hopeful thrush in play and subsequently
portrayed it as one of the central characters of the poem.
7. What does the phrase “I leant upon the coppice gate” signify?
Answer- The following lines are from the famous Victorian poem of
the late 19th century entitled “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas
Hardy. The lines show us how the weight of desolation and dismal
bends the whole society in the intense transition.
We should also keep in mind while reading the poem that in the
following era, there was huge turmoil due to the rapid change in
polity, society and religious beliefs due to the developments in
science and technology. These metamorphoses had changed the
entire nature of the Victorian era to a bag full of miseries, disbelief,
bleakness etc.
The narrator leant upon the coppice gate unable to bear the load of
these disparities. “coppice gate” refers to the area that opens into the
woods. This entrance marks the beginning of the new 20th century.
The Darkling thrush hinted at this very fact subsequently in the poem.
8. The Darkling Thrush was written when the nineteenth century
was coming to an end. How is the poem related to it?
Answer- Thomas Hardy penned down The Darkling Thrush during
the huge turmoil of late 19th century England. The transition from the
Victorian to the modern era was quite full of doubts, uncertainties and
sadness.
One can witness the gloominess of the era in the atmosphere. This
poem specifically signifies to mark the end of the 19th century and
doubts about the new age. Originally, titled ‘By the Century’s
Deathbed, 1900’, shows a clear indication of how this poem is closely
related to the late 19th century coming to an end.
Everything in nature seemed odd, mourning over the death of the
century. The clouds that hung over the earth seem to serve as a tomb
for the burial of the dead body of the century. The joyful voice of the
little thrush is a reminder of the fact that death is not the end.
There is life beyond death which is the cycle of rebirth. The poet’s
puzzling response only reflects the human anxiety about it. Like
others, he is not sure how the new times would be better than the old
ones.