“The Darkling Thrush” Essay -- Poetry Analysis

The darkling Thrush is a sorrowful poem, which uses a variety of constitution techniques to present forth the theme of never giving up hope, while still keeping with the bleak nimbus of the poem. Poet and novelist Thomas dauntless wrote this poem on December 31, 1899, the last day of the 19th century. The speaker in the poem creates a gloomy and negative tone yet, in the end it becomes slightly more than upbeat, when the belief of hope is spread from the thrush. It is dusk and the speaker is alone outside, leaning against a wooden gate. He is an inward character, which is made evident by the dramatized condemnation that all mankindhad sought their household fires. The land seemed lifeless with nothing growing and no animals near. Amidst the darkness, a frail thrush began to sing a joyful tune. The nerveless birds ability to throw its soul to the world uplifted the speaker. It was as though the bird knew something hopeful of the future that the speaker did not.The Darkling Thrush has a variety of rhythm, meter and rhyming elements, which help contribute to the overall value of the poem. It is written in iambic tetrameter, with lines 1, 3, 5, and 7 having four stressed syllables, and lines 2, 4, 6, and 8 having hardly three stressed syllables. It has an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme, which in turn adds to the melancholy tone of the poem, and creates consistency in the poems sense of despair. The lines in this poem argon roughly equal in length, and the pattern throughout remains coherently uniform. The poet creates structure in the poem by forming two sentences in each of the beginning two stanzas, and only one sentence in each of the last two stanzas. This formation combined with the strict use of declarative sentences, and an absence of revolution w... ...crypt the cloudy canopy creates a strict, harsh sound, adding to the bitter despondency of the poem. The specific use of wording throughout this poem works to create the gloomy atmosphere present within the po em.Thomas Hardy presented a negative tone throughout the poem, while still keeping with the more uplifting theme of hope. With the unadulterated use of metaphors, similes, terminology, structure, and rhyme scheme, The Darkling Thrush works well to produce its desired intention. Although the theme of hope is clearly presented in the end of the poem, Hardy does not meet the sense of misery within the poem. He finds a way to display both hope and dejection in a cleverly interesting way. The Darkling Thrush is an interesting poem of a frail little bird that is great enough to change the thoughts of a man.Works CitedThe Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy