Critical analysis

the poem The Darkling Thrush

1. Critical Analysis of the poem 'The Darkling Thrush' By
Thomas Hardy


The poem 'The Darkling Thrush' was published by Thomas Hardy at the end of the nineteenth
century. The poem thoroughly reflects the Victorian Era's sorrow and hopelessness. The
continued industrialization process that triggered the depletion of rural agricultural society and
rural customs and traditions worried Hardy. The poet expresses his despair and sorrow about this
deterioration in the conventional and natural world in this poem. Due to new technological
advances brought on by rapid industrialization in England, the Victorian era was characterized
by intense and rapid changes in politics, culture and religious beliefs. During the Victorian era,
innovations such as trains, electricity, steam engines and suspension bridges reshaped the daily
lives of millions of British citizens. Industrialization transformed human behavior and its
relationship to their climate.

In pursuit of jobs there, people prefer to migrate from rural areas to industrial cities. Because of
the decline in the number of farmers, this created a great agricultural depression. Many wars
resulted from the colonization race in European countries, which also degraded the loving
conditions of urban workers. They were now cut off from any relationship to the ground, but
they were also cut off from their work goods. Not only did technological innovation and
scientific knowledge bring enlightenment to the masses, but it also caused their religious
practices to change, resulting in their suffering and pain. The hopelessness of Hardy is primarily
attributed to abandoned rural farms and the disappearance of rural customs and traditions.

The poet feels that his link with the nineteenth century has been lost and that he has no hope for
the twentieth century to come. Thus, not only the fading nineteenth century, but also the coming
of the twentieth century, where there is little hope for a better future, laments beauty. In the
poem, the use of terms such as "spectre gray," "winter's dregs made bleak," "weakening eye of
day," "strings of broken lyre," "the Century's Corpse," and "the cloudy canopy," all reflect the
speaker's hopelessness and dejection, and he eventually says - And on earth, every Spirit, As I
"seemed fervourless". The poet feels that any living thing on this planet is as desperate as him in
the bleak, dim, cold winter night of the last day of the old century. He has such a lack of
enthusiasm and energy for the future. The use of many grave and death symbols in the poem
proves it to be a lament or elegy; this is a lament for the death of someone.

“The land’s sharp features seemed to be,The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy
canopy, The wind his death — lament” .
The poet contrasts the desolate landscape with the "death" of the passing century in the above
lines, with phrases such as The Century's corpse outlet" to identify the sharp gloomy features of
the landscape with the corpse of the old century. For the cover of the crypt, he used the "cloudy
canopy" metaphor and "death lament" for the weeping of the shrilling cold wind. The desolate
farms, devoid of the farmers who were moved to the industrial cities, were greatly disturbed to
see him. He finds himself separated from other people who have found the warmth of their

2. household fire within their homes in a desolate, bleak landscape. He has no expectation that he'll
get some warmth.


This hopelessness on the part of the speaker is expressed in the poem throughout. "Although we
hear a thrush singing a "full hearted evensong" later on, “In a full-hearted evensong".
Although the song is full of limitless happiness, yet its “An aged thrush, frail gaunt and small”.
The thin, frail and aged presence did not offer the speaker much hope. This aged bird who is
himself "flying his soul" out on the gloomy night symbolizes nothing but the decline of
something good. While the thrush finds hope in this gloomy night, the speaker is confused
because there is nothing to be cheerful about from where it gets such hope.

“Some blessed Hope, where of he knew"
He may feel that in everything he knows, the bird finds some hope, that the poet cannot believe
in it. Any source of joy or hope is still unknown to him. This way, for the troubled nineteenth
century, the entire poem is an elegy.

The poem "The Darkling Thrush" is an effort by Thomas Hardy to look for meaning in a world
that transitions from the old to the modern world. Human beings and their interaction with their
world have been altered by the rise of industrialization and urbanization. As people migrated to
the Industrial Cities, it also triggered agricultural depression due to decreased numbers of
farmers. Hardy himself mourned the passing of agricultural culture and saw no reason to
celebrate the rapid industrialization of England that helped to eradicate rural life's customs and
traditions. He sees little hope for the future of mankind.