darkling thrush
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
A commentary on Thomas Hardy's 'A Darkling Thrush'
A commentary on 'The Darkling Thrush'.
Thomas Hardy wrote 'The Darkling Thrush' at the turn of the century, on the 31st of December, 1900. It was a date that compelled the poet to acknowledge that it was the end of one time and the start of another.
'The Darkling Thrush' is a poem that deals not only with the beginning of a new year and century, but also with the Hardy's apprehension about this momentous change.
The poem is formally constructed, comprising of four stanzas, each one containing two quatrains. Within these, the lines of verse maintain a repetitive iambic pattern and syllable count. The poet's use of this meter creates a rhythmic flow that helps to foster a sense of time; it's progression and passing. This is constant until interrupted in the third stanza. Here, however, this deliberate metric disruption seems appropriate as it draws your attention to the change in the tone of the poet, the texture of his words and the subject of his attention. After this, the regular pattern returns as does the doleful mood of the two previous stanzas...