Thomas Hardy and a Winter poem. Not just an author......

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Byron
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Thomas Hardy and a Winter poem. Not just an author......

Post by Byron »

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
The Darkling Thrush

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
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.

I was sitting in bed last night waiting for BBC Radio 4's, 'Poetry Please,' introduced by Roger McGough. The first poem he brought to the programme was described by him as "Thomas Hardy's poem on Winter," and this was it.

We had only returned from Agadir (uncle Joe, you asked) in Morocco, late on Friday night and the first poem I hear on my radio is about Winter!!! Now that is spookie.

This is a follow up to my short list of authors that I gave in another thread. The list included Hardy, who was an accomplished poet to boot. (bit of olde english there :roll: ) It means as well as, in a complimentary way and not someone to actually kick with a boot. Ain't words wunnerfull..........

Darkling was a word I had to look up in my trusty dictionary. Used in poetry to express in the dark, in the night. Another day another lesson for me. :roll:
"Bipolar is a roller-coaster ride without a seat belt. One day you're flying with the fireworks; for the next month you're being scraped off the trolley" I said that.
ladydi
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Re: Thomas Hardy and a Winter poem. Not just an author......

Post by ladydi »

Hi Byron,

I have LOVED Hardy since I was a teenager and think I have possibly read every novel of his at least twice! But I never realized he also wrote poetry. Thank you so much for sharing this. I know at the moment it's very appropriate for anyone in Great Britain but here in certain areas of the US we have seen more winter than we care to! ;-) So far our total in the Ann Arbor area of Michigan is 89.8 inches (not sure This message has been classified as spam and will be deleted by the moderators that...sorry) and spring is still several weeks away. Also our temperature never topped 12F today....think that may be about -10C...brrrrrr

I especially liked "when Winter's dregs made desolate the weakening eye of day". Actually, loved the whole poem but for some reason that line stood out....perhaps because at this moment we are experiencing the weakening eye of day.

Diana
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mat james
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Re: Thomas Hardy and a Winter poem. Not just an author......

Post by mat james »

...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 ...
Byron,
The old guy is still alive and lovin' it !! :lol:

What a man! :lol: :lol:
("be that bird or fiend"-ish optimist )

I hope I last
like that beautiful bird of Hardy.
"Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart." San Juan de la Cruz.
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