Darkling thrush by Thomas Hardy

Elective English CBSE Grade 12

1. THE DARKLING THRUSH
(By The Century’s Deathbed)
“Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.”
Written on December 31, 1899
By - Thomas Hardy
1840-1928

2. Apart from celebrating the
beginning of the new year, most of
us also make certain resolutions.
Prepare a list of any 3 things you
resolve to change/incorporate in
your life, for the new year.
Exchange with your partner.

4. •Write 5 words/adjectives related to
difficulties faced in life.
•Give a one minute speech on the
problems of life
•List 2 ways to overcome these
problems

7. Novelist and Poet
•First known as a
novelist, Hardy’s
novels capture the
flavor of life in rural
Dorset, as well as the
inner lives of his
memorable characters

8. Early Life

9. Childhood
•Born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset on June 2,1840.
•Eldest child of builder, Thomas Hardy II and his wife,
Jemima Hand.
•Three more children followed him.
•The young Hardy was deeply influenced by the natural
world around him.

10. Education and Profession
•Hardy attended local school until he was apprenticed to a
Dorchester architect at 15.
•After six years apprenticeship, Hardy went to London in
1861.
•Hardy read widely in London and became interested in
fiction and poetry while practicing architecture.

11. Return to Dorset
•Hardy returned to
Dorset as an architect
and builder.
•He continued to write,
and by 1871 had
published his first
novel.
•He married Emma
Gifford in 1874.

12. Major Novels
•Under the Greenwood Tree 1872
•A Pair of Blue Eyes 1873
•Far from the Madding Crowd 1874
•The Return of the Native 1878
•The Mayor of Casterbridge 1886
•Tess of the D’Urbervilles 1891
•Jude the Obscure 1896

13. FAMOUS POEMS BY HARDY
•I said to Love"
•A Broken Appointment
•I Need Not Go
•"Between Us Now"
•"How Great My Grief"
•A Meeting With Despair
•The Darkling Thrush
•The Man He Killed
•Drummer Hodge
•"I Have Lived With Shades"
•A Thunderstorm in Town
•Afterwards
•In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations'
•Hap

14. SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

15. The Darkling Thrush
BY THOMAS HARDY
STANZA 1
I leant upon a coppice gate
When frost was spectre-grey,
And winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

16. WHAT DO I MEAN???
•sediment / left-over bits
•thicket / dense growth of bushes
•ghostly appearance / apparition
•bleak / dismal / deserted
•a harp / stringed instrument
•nearby
•appearing at night or in the dark
•setting sun
•Dried up stem of bindweed

17. The narrator speaks of a frost-bitten landscape, gray
and lifeless, and how it makes him feel miserable and
depressed. The world is a bleak, colourless, cold place
with a few reminders of the melody and warmth that
have vanished.

18. Imagery in Stanza 1
death / imminent end / desolation / lifeless wasteland??
Spectre-gray - frost/dusk seen as spectre or ghost. Frost presented a
malevolent force instead of simple cold.
As the day ends, its "eye" (the sun) weakens; the spectre of the frost is
fighting against the day's eye and forcing it to close.
The “tangled bine-stems” are compared to the broken strings of a lyre which
creates a terrible sound…echoing the speaker’s negative outlook on the
upcoming century.
Mankind that ‘haunted nigh’(lived nearby)….another ghostly image

19. The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse out leant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
STANZA 2

20. WHAT DO I MEAN????
•stretched out
•Sharp outlines of winter landscape
•Funeral song
•Lifecycle
•Dead body
•Germination
•Devoid of passion

21. The narrator, despite knowing that seasons pass and
that this cold weather is only temporary, is depressed
about the dead foliage ("ancient pulse of germ and
birth") and the lack of movement and life. Animals
and people alike are hiding in their burrows and
homes, the first hibernating and the second using its
control over nature to keep from freezing to death.
The narrator, being outside, is overcome with the
extreme stillness of the world and the lack of reasons
to strive and move ("fervourless spirits").

22. STANZA 3
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

23. WHAT DO I MEAN???
•Song for evening service of worshipping God
•Burst out
•Unlimited
•Thin
•Feeble/weak
•Old
•Thin branches
•Strong gust of wind
•Feathers
•Scruffy/disordered
•Deepening twilight, grim scenario

24. So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled
through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.
STANZA 4

25. WHAT DO I MEAN????
•Singing carols/Christmas songs
•On earth
•In the distance or nearby
•Tune

26. The thrush is the only thing moving and
making noise in the world, and the narrator
is overjoyed to see it, his spirits lifted by a
seeming reason to hope and to strive. The
narrator is taken by this bird and what he
sees as an instinctual drive to enjoy life
while it lasts; he correlates the bird's
singing not with a deliberate push against
the cold and dark, but with an inner joy
that it feels compelled to spread
regardless of circumstance:

27. •What are the first two words that come to
your mind after hearing the poem?
• Can you think of any other poems you’ve
read, which have a similar theme?
•What do you think the poet is trying to
tell us through this poem?

30. LET’S RECALL
THE DARKLING THRUSH
By Thomas Hardy
•the theme of the poem
•the setting of the poem
•the underlying message

31. Poetic Devices
Personification
Alliteration
Metaphor
Assonance
Visual Imagery
Aural Imagery

33. Identify words in stanza 1 and 2
that create a sense of utter
hopelessness / despair and
words that have a positive note
(list them under positivity &
negativity on the board

35. Write the summary of each of the 4 stanzas
in 2-3 sentences only. Each group writes on 1 stanza
and reads out their summary to the rest of the groups.

36. ASSIGNMENT
Write a 10- 12 line poem on HOPE

38. The Darkling Thrush" is a nature poem by
Thomas Hardy, and its subject is the titular
bird which raises the narrator's spirits
through its singing. The narrator speaks of
a frost-bitten landscape, gray and lifeless,
and how it makes him feel miserable and
depressed.
THEME

39. The themes therefore change from acceptance of
the harder aspects and times in life to embrace of
what joys exist; the narrator does not see the reason
for that joy but is inspired to continue searching for
it. Seeing the thrush and its ability to find and create
beauty in a joyless landscape allows the narrator to
embrace what hope he can find in his own heart,
and through example spread it to others both in
action and through the poem itself.

40. ASSIGNMENT
Diary Entry
Write a diary entry about your fears and
anxieties upon facing the new changes and
challenges that you might encounter, as you
are about to enter college life.