"The Darkling Thrush" paints a rather dispiriting picture of a world which is "hard and dry" and "fervourless." Hardy goes so far as to describe the century that is nearing its end as a "corpse outleant." However, amidst all this gloom, there is hope. It is represented by the eponymous thrush, and more specifically by the thrush's "full-hearted evensong." This song lifts the speaker's spirits and makes him believe that there may, after all, be some "blessed Hope" in the world.

Ted Hughes's "Thrushes," meanwhile, presents the thrush not as a creature which offers hope, but as a creature which exemplifies the instinctive "single-mind(edness)" of animals. The thrush in the poem has a "deadly eye," and "stab(s) ... some writhing thing." It is "nothing but bounce and stab." Hughes contrasts the single-mindedness of the thrush to the distracted minds of humans, who are subject to "distracting devils." Thus, while in Hardy's poem the thrush is a symbol of hope, in Hughes's poem it serves to emphasize, the inability of most humans to focus intensely on the moment.

Stylistically, "The Darkling Thrush" is written in iambic meter. Every second syllable is stressed. There is also a regular 8-6-8-6 syllabic meter and an alternating rhyme scheme whereby every other line rhymes. This very controlled style is in stark contrast to the free verse from of "Thrushes." "Thrushes" has no regular meter, no regular syllabic meter, and no rhyme scheme. The stylistic regularity of the first poem creates a rhythm which perhaps reflects the uplifting melody of the thrush's song. The stylistic irregularity of the second poem perhaps reflects the inability of humans to act with the single-minded focus exemplified by the thrush.