Thomas Hardy

As we see in the introductory material on Thomas Hardy, his poems usually are set in a rural landscape where he embodies his moments of vision and puts them into words. "The Darkling Thrush" is no different. This short poem is full of nature images and symbolic meaning. It portrays Hardy's feelings about current society and hope for the future.

The entire poem seems to be Hardy's response to the 20th century. He wrote this during a time period when the world was shaken by such ideas as evolution, Darwinism, and religious uncertainty. In the first stanza Hardy provides a very grim, dark image of the landscape, which symbolizes how the beginning of the century looks to him.
"When Frost was spectre-gray,/ And Winter's dregs made desolate/ The tangled bine-stems scored the sky/ Like strings of broken lyres"
This dreary picture he paints shows no hope for the time that lays ahead of present society. Nature's beauty is gone and has been replaced by these disturbing images. There is nothing positive at this point.

The second stanza grows even darker. Hardy describes the land as though corpses are rising out of a crypt. The land is yielding no life: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth/ Was shrunken hard and dry". This description differs greatly from the ones we have read from the Romantic writers. Hardy provides a bleak image in which he parallels death and nature.

However, in the third stanza, we experience a turn or change. The narrator hears the sound of a bird. I think this is when Hardy introduces a positive aspect of this new era. Though it is bleak right now, something positive has landed in this post-Victorian, modern world.

In the last stanza, the narrator does not understand why this bird is singing.
"So little cause for carolings/ Of such ecstatic sound/ Was written of terrestrial things/ Afar or nigh around"
He sees no reason for such joy in such a troubled world. It seems as though this bird has hope for this desolate age, whereas man is lacking this sense of security. I think this is Hardy's way of showing the reader that there may be hope for the world, even if it is not apparent at the moment. Nature still brings hope, which can rectify the current situation. This idea is found in the concluding lines.
"His happy good-night air/ Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew/ And I was unaware."

Hardy's poem is quite depressing as he describes such a bleak outlook for the new era. However, there is one aspect of hope that we see in this bird. I have trouble believing that Hardy actually feels optimistic. Though he says there is a hope that he is not aware of, I am not convinced that he believes things will get better.