The speaker's state of mind in this poem is described as "fervourless," or lacking in any kind of enthusiasm for the world around him. He sees the wintry world around him as reflective of this state of mind: it seems to him "shrunken," and Hardy makes an allusion to the anxiety that struck at the turn of the twentieth century when he refers to seeing "the Century's corpse" in the lay of the land. He is clearly feeling uneasy, unsure of himself and the world around him, and is seeking some hope when all he can hear is a "death-lament."

The voice of the thrush, then, goes some way towards providing this for him. Its "joy illimited" is very different to what the speaker is feeling. Indeed, he notes that there is "little cause for carolings" in the world he sees; he cannot understand what the bird is experiencing that he is not. And yet, the song of this thrush does give the speaker "some blessed Hope." While he himself is still "unaware" of what that hope might be, the song of the bird seems to spread some happiness into the desolate landscape and gives the speaker a shred of hope to cling to: he may not be able to see the cause of the thrush's happiness, but he does believe that it is there somewhere in the world.

How does "The Darkling Thrush" explore the speaker's search for meaning in the world?

The speaker in the poem is melancholic and "fervourless." He "leans upon a coppice gate" as the sun sets ("The weakening eye of day") and ponders the century that's almost over, as well as the century that's about to begin. The poem was first published in 1900. He is also surrounded by the "dregs" of Winter and images of death (described with the words "haunted," "corpse," and "death-lament") pervade the poem. He metaphorically describes the previous century as a "corpse." The implication is that the speaker has no hope for the coming century and sees no meaning in life.

In the third stanza, however, he hears and then sees an "aged thrush" and this thrush gives him some hope, and seems to offer some meaning. The thrush sings "full-hearted" and "fling(s) his soul / Upon the dying gloom" even though he is "aged" and "frail." This offers the speaker some "blessed Hope," and meaning seems to lie in that hope. The speaker is "unaware" as to where the thrush derives this hope from, but the fact that he has it seems enough to at least temporarily appease the speaker's melancholic mood. The thrush's hope suggests to the speaker that there may be some meaning after all, even if he is "unaware" of what it is.