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Melynda et. al.<BR>
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Yes, I understand your interpretation. Perhaps your view fits the facts of the poem more accurately than what I suggested. Nonetheless, when Hardy wrote:<BR>
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At once a voice arose among <BR>
The bleak twigs overhead <BR>
In a full-hearted evensong <BR>
Of joy illimited; <BR>
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, <BR>
In blast-beruffled plume, <BR>
Had chosen thus to fling his soul <BR>
Upon the growing gloom. <BR>
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So little cause for carolings <BR>
Of such ecstatic sound <BR>
Was written on terrestrial things <BR>
Afar or nigh around, <BR>
That I could think there trembled through <BR>
His happy good-night air <BR>
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew <BR>
And I was unaware. <BR>
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He appears to be recognizing or experiencing the possibility, or some form of the reality, as he hears the birds singing, of positive states of being including "a full-hearted evensong, Of joy illimited," of "ecstatic sound" and a "blessed Hope," that perhaps the thrush embodies in a manner that makes his despair more intense, as you suggest, if we assume he is alienated from what positive states of being he describes regarding the thrush, or perhaps the identification with the "ecstatic sound" and these other emotions and states of being the thrush embodies inspires Hardy to contemplate that his lack of awareness of these states of being does not mean they are not possible, even in the bleak "dead" winter landscape. Indeed, we could read that Hardy is experiencing some of these more positive states of being as he may identify with the birds song and what he imagines it embodies. And the contrast between the positive states he associates with the birds song, to the gloom and deathly winter landscape could cut two ways: more despair, perhaps, but also a realization that inspiration is possible even in desolation, or that Nature can find joy in the most desolate conditions.<BR>
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Perhaps my view that Hardy may identify with the birds song in a manner that allows Hardy to himself feel what he imagines the birds song represents is way off the mark.<BR>
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But a total depressive pessimist writing this poem might dismiss the thrush's actions as vain, pointless, random, perhaps the mindless utterings of a "robot-like" bird that knows nothing of these positive states of being that Hardy appears to indicate the thrush may know something about: indeed, Hardy declares the thrush's song to be "his happy good-night air." <BR>
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I find it hard to reject the interpretation that Hardy found some solace and inspiration in the birds song, despite his ending comment that he was not aware of what "blessed hope" the bird may have expressed. But then I am just winging it here, because I know little about Hardy or what interpretation of this poem fits the orientation of his creative work.<BR>
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There are too many "positive" words in the poem for me to view it from a wholly pessimistic interpretation.<BR>
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I am no doubt projecting my love for bird song: Love is blind, as we all know.<BR>
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Ted Moffett<BR>
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