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    On Imagery and Symbolism

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    MARY ANN ILLANA
    The document provides sample analyses of the poem "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy that discuss various poetic elements including setting and atmosphere, tone and voice, sound effects, poetic devices, and diction. It analyzes how the gloomy winter setting depicted in the poem creates a sense of loss and hopelessness. It also discusses how the poet uses rhyme, imagery, metaphors, and religious language to convey themes of death and the rebirth of hope through the singing of the thrush.

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    On Imagery and Symbolism

    Uploaded by

    MARY ANN ILLANA
    99 views4 pages
    The document provides sample analyses of the poem "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy that discuss various poetic elements including setting and atmosphere, tone and voice, sound effects, poetic devices, and diction. It analyzes how the gloomy winter setting depicted in the poem creates a sense of loss and hopelessness. It also discusses how the poet uses rhyme, imagery, metaphors, and religious language to convey themes of death and the rebirth of hope through the singing of the thrush.

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    The document provides sample analyses of the poem "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy that discuss various poetic elements including setting and atmosphere, tone and voice, sound effects, poetic devices, and diction. It analyzes how the gloomy winter setting depicted in the poem creates a sense of loss and hopelessness. It also discusses how the poet uses rhyme, imagery, metaphors, and religious language to convey themes of death and the rebirth of hope through the singing of the thrush.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    99 views4 pages

    On Imagery and Symbolism

    Uploaded by

    MARY ANN ILLANA
    The document provides sample analyses of the poem "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy that discuss various poetic elements including setting and atmosphere, tone and voice, sound effects, poetic devices, and diction. It analyzes how the gloomy winter setting depicted in the poem creates a sense of loss and hopelessness. It also discusses how the poet uses rhyme, imagery, metaphors, and religious language to convey themes of death and the rebirth of hope through the singing of the thrush.

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    On Imagery and Symbolism

    An effective analytical paragraph on an aspect of a poem need not be long, but it should
    contain the following parts:
    1. A statement/main point
    2. Textual support and evidence (quoting directly or paraphrasing the poem)
    3. Elaboration and explanation

    On Speaker, Tone and Voice

    “This Is Just To Say”


    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

    I have eaten
    the plums
    that were in
    the icebox

    and which
    you were probably
    saving
    for breakfast

    Forgive me
    they were delicious
    so sweet
    and so cold

    Source: William Carlos Williams's Spring and All (1923)

    Sample Analysis : On Tone, Voice, and Diction


    In the poem “This is Just to Say”, the speaker adopts a first-person voice and seems to be
    apologizing to somebody whose plums he has eaten. However, his tone is more playful and
    mischievous than apologetic and regretful. The title “this is just to say” reinforces the
    unapologetic tone found throughout the poem. While the speaker admits in Stanza 2 that he
    knows the plums belong to “you” and are reserved for breakfast, he expresses how he takes
    pleasure in his impulsive eating in Stanza 3 because the plums are too tempting and
    irresistible. He only feels obligated to apologize to “you” for placing his desire over his/her
    ownership but he does not regret eating the delicious, sweet and cool plums.

    On Setting and Atmosphere

    The Darkling Thrush


    Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
    I leant upon a coppice gate
    When Frost was spectre-grey,
    And Winter's dregs made desolate
    The weakening eye of day.
    The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
    Like strings of broken lyres,
    And all mankind that haunted nigh
    Had sought their household fires.

    The land's sharp features seemed to be


    The Century's corpse outleant,
    His crypt the cloudy canopy,
    The wind his death-lament.
    The ancient pulse of germ and birth
    Was shrunken hard and dry,
    And every spirit upon earth
    Seemed fervourless as I.

    At once a voice arose among


    The bleak twigs overhead
    In a full-hearted evensong
    Of joy illimited;
    An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
    In blast-beruffled plume,
    Had chosen thus to fling his soul
    Upon the growing gloom.

    So little cause for carolings


    Of such ecstatic sound
    Was written on terrestrial things
    Afar or nigh around,
    That I could think there trembled through
    His happy good-night air
    Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
    And I was unaware.

    Source: Thomas Hardy’s Poems of the Past and Present (1903)

    Sample Analysis: On Setting and Atmosphere


    The poem “The Darkling Thrush” is set at in the twilight on the last day of the nineteenth
    century. The speaker is leaning on a wooden gate looking at the darkening countryside. The
    setting creates a bleak, gloomy and depressing mood, making the speaker “fervourless”. The
    poet compares the setting sun to “a weakening eye” as night falls and he describes a “desolate”
    scene with frost taking over the land like a “corpse” and stems of trees standing “like strings of
    broken lyres (harps)”. The time setting of the poem imparts a sense of loss and sorrow as the
    day, year and century are ending at once and it seems to suggest also the end of life and the
    world. The desolate winter landscape with no life growing, only the frost shrouding the ground
    and the wind making funeral music in the trees, is also eerie, spooky and ghostly. Both the
    time and place convey a sense of hopelessness and lifelessness.

    Sample Analysis: On Sound Effects


    In the poem “The Darkling Thrush”, the regular rhyme and sound effects such as assonance,
    alliteration and sibilance are used to present the themes of death and rebirth of hope. The
    regular rhyme in every second line suggests a sense of stagnancy which matches the speaker’s
    “fervourless” feeling that everything is speeding towards death. In Stanza 1 the assonance of
    long “e” sounds in various words such as “spectre-grey”, “dregs” and “weakening eye” builds
    the eerie mood of the surroundings. The use of alliteration of the hard “k” sound in words such
    as “corpse”, “crypt” and “cloudy canopy” in Stanza 2 further evokes the tread of a funeral
    march, creating a sad tone that matches the gloomy feelings of the speaker. In contrast, the
    alliteration of plosive sounds (i.e. “b” and “p” sounds) in Stanza 3 (e.g. “blast-beruffled
    plume”) shows the strength and energy of the bird against the strong wind. The sibilance used
    to describe the thrush’s lively singing in “cause for carolings of such ecstatic sounds” creates a
    soft music that differs from the harsh sounds used to portray the bleak wintry setting. The
    switch from using harsh sounds to soft sounds corresponds with the change in the speaker’s
    feelings from sorrow to happiness, bringing out the contrast of the loss and rebirth of hope.

    Sample Analysis: On Poetic Devices


    In the poem “The Darkling Thrush”, imagery and comparison (i.e. similes and metaphors) are
    extensively used to build the desolate setting and depressing mood. In Stanza 1, the frost is
    compared to a grey ghost at dusk that shrouds the land, which creates a ghostly winter scene
    associated with death. The setting sun is described as a “weakening eye” and the metaphor of
    “dregs” is used to suggest the fading light of dusk. A simile is used when the poet likens the
    leafless stems and bare trunks to a broken lyre/harp, showing the barrenness and inability to
    produce life and music. In Stanza 2, metaphors are used to compare the landscape to a corpse
    and the darkening sky to a tomb, which further accentuates the spooky mood. The rich visual,
    auditory and tactile imagery in the poem appeals to readers’ sense of sight, hearing and touch,
    creating a vivid picture of the haunted countryside in a darkening dusk, which helps to present
    the theme of death and ending.

    Sample Analysis: On Diction / Word Choice/ and Use of Poetic Language


    In the poem “The Darkling Thrush”, archaic language (e.g. coppice [group of trees], spectre
    [ghost], darkling [in the dark], lyre [harp], crypt [tomb], illimited [free from limitations], nigh
    [near]) and some unusual combinations of words (e.g. death-lament” and “outleant”) can be
    identified in various places. The use of archaism reflects the poet’s Keatsian lyrical style and
    the Romantic literary tradition he belongs to. In addition to the use of archaism, the poet uses a
    lot of single adjectives before nouns. A lot of negative adjectives (e.g. desolate, weakening,
    tangled, broken, haunted, cloudy, shrunken, hard, dry and fervourless) are used in Stanzas 1
    and 2 to express the dark feelings and dejected mood of the speaker. In contrast, positive
    adjectives (e.g. full-hearted, illimited, growing, ecstatic, happy, blessed) and feelings words
    (e.g. joy, Hope) are used in Stanzas 3 and 4 to show the uplifted spirit of the speaker after
    listening to the joyful singing of the aged thrush. It is also worth noting that words with
    religious meanings (e.g. evensong, soul, carolings, blessed) are often used in the description of
    the bird. This religious association is accentuated with the capitalisation of the word “Hope”
    towards the end of the poem. The thrush seems to symbolise a spiritual force in nature and
    represent a harbinger of hope.

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