The Darkling Thrush (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Hardy
- First Published: 1901
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Nature, Nineteenth century, Singing or singers, Songs or songwriters, Birds, Time, Animals, Wildlife, Winter
The Poem
“The Darkling Thrush” is a thirty-two-line lyric poem in four stanzas of eight lines each. The first two stanzas provide the setting of the poem. Hardy’s poetic persona is standing at the edge of a “coppice,” a thicket of bushes or small trees. He surveys a desolate scene at the end of a winter day. He is alone in that “haunted night”; all the rest of humankind “had sought their household fires.” The second stanza continues the description and provides two important pieces of information. One concerns the time when the poem was written, December of...
[The entire page is 1456 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
Related Topics
