de Guzman, Francesco Maria C. Humanities I – TFD2
2012-41947 Prof. Morales
The Dead Man Walking
They hail me as one living,
But don't they know
That I have died of late years,
Untombed although?

I am but a shape that stands here,
A pulseless mould,
A pale past picture, screening
Ashes gone cold.

Not at a minute's warning,
Not in a loud hour,
For me ceased Time's enchantments
In hall and bower.

There was no tragic transit,
No catch of breath,
When silent seasons inched me
On to this death ...

-- A Troubadour-youth I rambled
With Life for lyre,
The beats of being raging
In me like fire.

But when I practised eyeing
The goal of men,
It iced me, and I perished
A little then.

When passed my friend, my kinsfolk,
Through the Last Door,
And left me standing bleakly,
I died yet more;

The Dead Man Walking
They hail me as one living,
But don't they know
That I have died of late years,
Untombed although?

I am but a shape that stands here,
A pulseless mould,
A pale past picture, screening
Ashes gone cold.

Not at a minute's warning,
Not in a loud hour,
For me ceased Time's enchantments
In hall and bower.

There was no tragic transit,
No catch of breath,
When silent seasons inched me
On to this death ...

-- A Troubadour-youth I rambled
With Life for lyre,
The beats of being raging
In me like fire.

But when I practised eyeing
The goal of men,
It iced me, and I perished
A little then.

When passed my friend, my kinsfolk,
Through the Last Door,
And left me standing bleakly,
I died yet more;

And when my Love's heart kindled
In hate of me,
Wherefore I knew not, died I
One more degree.

And if when I died fully
I cannot say,
And changed into the corpse-thing
I am to-day,

Yet is it that, though whiling
The time somehow
In walking, talking, smiling,
I live not now.

Thomas Hardy

-------------------------------------------------

Afterwards
When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay, And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say, 'He was a man who used to notice such things'?

If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink, The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight
Upon the wind-warped upland thorn, a gazer may think, 'To him this must have been a familiar sight.'

And when my Love's heart kindled
In hate of me,
Wherefore I knew not, died I
One more degree.

And if when I died fully
I cannot say,
And changed into the corpse-thing
I am to-day,

Yet is it that, though whiling
The time somehow
In walking, talking, smiling,
I live not now.

Thomas Hardy

-------------------------------------------------

Afterwards
When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay, And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say, 'He was a man who used to notice such things'?

If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink, The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight
Upon the wind-warped upland thorn, a gazer may think, 'To him this must have been a familiar sight.'

POETRY PAPER

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.

Thomas Hardy
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.

Thomas Hardy
If I pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm,
When the hedgehog travels furtively over the lawn,
One may say, 'He strove that such innocent creatures should come to no harm,
But he could do little for them; and now he is gone.'

If, when hearing that I have been stilled at last, they stand at the door,
Watching the full-starred heavens that winter sees,
Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more,
'He was one who had an eye for such mysteries'?

And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom,
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom,
'He hears it not now, but used to notice such things'?

Thomas Hardy

-------------------------------------------------

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. If I pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm,
When the hedgehog travels furtively over the lawn,
One may say, 'He strove that such innocent creatures should come to no harm,
But he could do little for them; and now he is gone.'

If, when hearing that I have been stilled at last, they stand at the door,
Watching the full-starred heavens that winter sees,
Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more,
'He was one who had an eye for such mysteries'?

And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom,
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom,
'He hears it not now, but used to notice such things'?

Thomas Hardy

-------------------------------------------------

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.

I. Background of the Poems
A. Author and Context
Thomas Hardy (June 2, 1840 - January 11, 1928) was a British novelist and poet. He was well-known for his novels, like “Tess of the D'Urbervilles” and “Jude the Obscure”, but he started and ended his writing career as a poet. In 1862, he stayed in London for five years, immersing himself in the culture, visiting the museums and theaters and studying classic literature. In 1867, Hardy started to concentrate more on his novels. He was so enthralled by this that he started to write poems. Despite receiving great praises (and fame and money) from his novels, there were still many critics who find his works too “shocking”. In fact, the biting reviews for “Jude the Obscure” in 1895 criticizing Jude made him quit making novels altogether, switching back to poetry. In 1910, he was awarded the Order of Merit. By this time he had already written around 800 poems, 3 novel collections and 5 smaller novels. Becoming satisfied with his work, he decided to quit his original job as an architect. He also had a contented personal life. But his first wife, Emma, died in 1912. Even though their marriage had not been harmonious, Hardy mourned at her sudden death. In 1914, he married Florence Dugale, whom he stayed with for the remainder of his life.
In the first poem, “The Dead Man Walking”, he mentioned his wife hating him, and this wasn’t far from the truth. Before writing this, he had been receiving criticisms for “Jude the Obscure”, especially because it attacks the constitution of marriage, and this has played a part in his wife’s estrangement. (poemhunter.com, n.d.) (shmoop.com, n.d.)
Thomas Hardy was one of the forerunners of modernism, breaking away from traditional types of the arts (poetry, in his case) and looking for new ways of self-expression. He was also one of the first who tackled the problems of the “modern” world, like isolation, fear, hopelessness and despair, in his works. (shmoop.com, n.d.)
B. Genre
Thomas Hardy is a Victorian realist, and is influenced by romanticism. He is highly critical of the Victorian type of society. Most of his works have a depressing mood, dealing with regrets and despair. His poems are often lyrical, like the examples in this paper.
C. Cultural Background
Living in his epoch, most people are bound by norms and traditions. He wanted to break free from these constraints, and this was evident in his writings, and it caused a great stirring among the people. Which led to many intrigues and criticisms about his work.

II. Language of Poetry: Literary Devices Used
A. Diction, Usage and Connotations
For his writings, he employs the use of archaic, obsolete and presently circulating words. This gives his poems a unique personality and makes it sound like someone of age speaking to someone younger, trying to explain things in terms he can understand. His writes formally, but without having to give up the emotional content of his work. His words are connotative, and he not only uses loose meanings derived from the words, he alters the words (for example, capitalizing the letter “F” in “Frost) to give a different image. He is also fond of using words that he made up on his own, like “dew-fall hawk”. He follows, most of the time, the British spelling, like “neighbour”. (poemhunter.com, n.d.)
B. Imagery
The Dead Man Walking Word/s Used | Connotation | Dead Man Walking | Someone who is still living, but due to painful experiences, considers himself dead because he couldn’t find reasons to live. | pulseless mould | “Mould” depicts a hollowed figure of what the speaker once was, “pulseless” is used to dictate the nonexistence of life in this figure. | pale past picture | Things that have already passed on, with little left of what practical uses it once held. | Ashes gone cold | | Troubadour-youth | Young practitioner of lyric poetry, which refers to the actual author himself in his younger age. | Last Door | Refers to the final stage of life, death. |

Afterwards Word/s Used | Connotation | tremulous stay | Feebleness of stay, where stay is used to represent life. | the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay | Different scenarios where he imagined his (the speaker’s) own death | in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink, | | pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm, | | I have been stilled at last, | | my bell of quittance | | May month | A scene of a day in spring | Green leaves | | New-spun silk | | nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm, | A warm summer night | hedgehog travels furtively | Suggests vulnerability | full-starred heavens that winter sees | A clear winter night sky | Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more, | The term suggests rising like the moon on the night sky. | my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom | A funeral |

The Darkling Thrush Word/s Used | Connotation | Frost | Capitalizing "Frost" and "Winter" makes them seem like living beings rather than inanimate forces of nature. They seem to be traditional personifications, which allows the poem to allude to an entire symbolic register by inserting just a few choice images. Using this method, it seems as though we are referring to ancient gods like that of Greeks. | Winter | | When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate | * The use of the word “dregs” depicts the image of staleness and left-overs, something dreary. * This is further supported by the image of a gray spectre, giving a gloomy effect on the poem. * The word “spectre” gives the image of the “grim reaper”, signaling the death of an era. Also, using the season, winter, depicts the last season, or the death before a new beginning of the cycle. | Like strings of broken lyres, | Once again, a reference to an epoch that is past the time this was written and past the time of the poem’s setting. This image portrays things of the past as already damaged, destroyed. | And all mankind that haunted nigh | Creates an image that mankind at present is now suffering from some kind of limbo, probably between past and future. | Hope | The speaker also refers to “Hope” as a personified being. |

C. Figures of Speech
The Dead Man Walking
The whole poem is about a living dead man. - Paradox Lines | Figures of Speech Used | A pale past picture, screening (line 7) | Alliteration | There was no tragic transit (line 13) | | When silent seasons inched me (line 15) | | | | A pulseless mould,A pale past picture, screening (lines 6-7) | Anaphora | Not at a minute's warning,Not in a loud hour, (lines 9-10) | | There was no tragic transit,No catch of breath, | | I am but a shape that stands here,A pulseless mould,A pale past picture, screeningAshes gone cold (lines 5-8) | Metaphor ( comparison between self and pulseless mould, shape that stands here, pa pale past picture and ashes gone cold) | They hail me as one living,But don't they knowThat I have died of late years,Untombed although? (lines 1-4) | Metaphor ( comparison between self and a dead person who died long ago) | And changed into the corpse-thingI am to-day, (lines 35-36) | Metaphor ( comparison between self and a corpse-like being) | The beats of being ragingIn me like fire. (lines 19-20) | Simile ( comparison between beats of being and raging fire) | When silent seasons inched meOn to this death ... (lines 15-16) | Personification | The beats of being raging (line 19) | | The goal of men,It iced me, and I perished (lines 22-23) | | And when my Love's heart kindled (line 29) | | When passed my friend, my kinsfolk,Through the Last Door, (line26) | Euphemism |

Afterwards Lines | Figures of Speech Used | When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay (line 1) | Personification | And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say, | It seems as though the month of May is likened to a creature with wings, probably a butterfly, with green, delicate wings by use of Metaphor. | If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink,The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight (lines 5-6) | Metaphor ( eyelid’s soundless blink to dew-fall hawk’s swift flight) | When the hedgehog travels furtively over the lawn (line 10) | Personification | Watching the full-starred heavens that winter sees (line 14) | Personification | Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more, (line 15) | Personification | Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more, (line 15) | Synecdoche (for the whole person) | 'He was one who had an eye for such mysteries'? (line 16) | Synecdoche (for ability to notice such events) | And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom (line 17) | Metonymy (for a funeral) | And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings, (line 18) | Personification | Till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom, (line 19) | Personification |

The Darkling Thrush Lines | Figures of Speech | His crypt the cloudy canopy (line 11) | Alliteration | The weakening eye of day (line 4) | Metaphor (Comparison of the sun to an eye) | Century's corpse (line 10) | Metaphor (Comparison of Century to a corpse) | His crypt the cloudy canopy (line 11) | Metaphor (Crypt to a canopy) | Had chosen thus to fling his soul (line 23) | Metaphor (Bird’s song to a soul) | The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres (lines 5-6) | Simile |

D. Expressive/Prose Form
The Dead Man Walking
The rhyme follows the pattern A-B-C-A for each stanza, meaning that the second and fourth lines for each are rhyming. Also, all rhyming lines are masculine rhymes, except for lines 10 and 12 where the words “hour” and “bower” have a two-syllable rhyme.
The meter generally alternates between iambic tetrameter and iambic dimeter. The lines in iambic tetrameter end with a catalectic (incomplete) foot, giving them seven syllables instead of the usual eight.
The first stanza demonstrates this pattern.

......1234
They HAIL..|me AS..|one LIV..|ing,......................(iambic tetrameter with an incomplete foot at the end)

.......12
But DON'T..|they KNOW.........................................(iambic dimeter)

....1234
That I..|have DIED..|of LATE..|years,....................(iambic tetrameter with an incomplete foot at the end)

..........12
Un TOMBED..|al THOUGH?....................................(iambic dimeter)

Line 17 departs from the pattern. It has eight syllables, consisting of an iamb, an anapest, an iamb, and a catalectic foot. (www.cummingsstudyguides.net, n.d.)

Afterwards
The rhymes of the poem follows an A-B-A-B pattern, so the first and third lines rhyme in each stanza, while the second corresponds with the fourth. They are all masculine rhymes except for lines 14 and 16 which have a feminine rhyme with two syllables.
There isn't a rigidly set number of syllables per line. Some lines even seem to be too long to fit. It's as though the speaker wants to stretch out each line as long as possible – giving the appearance that the speaker wants to extend to as long as he could.
Also, the lines that are being delivered by his neighbors were conversational, almost as if he was writing a prose.

The Darkling Thrush
There are four stanzas with 8 lines each. The rhyming pattern can be defined as A-B-A-B-C-D-C-D, meaning that the first line and the third one rhyme with each other, and the same is true for the second and fourth line, the fifth and seventh line, and the sixth and eighth line. This is applicable to all 4 stanzas.
....The longer lines in the poem are in iambic tetrameter and the shorter ones in iambic trimeter. Following are examples.
Iambic Tetrameter
.....1..............2..............3................4
I LEANT..|..upON..|..theCOP..|..piceGATE Iambic Trimeter
..........1....................2.................3.
When FROST..|..wasSPEC..|..treGRAY (www.cummingsstudyguides.net, n.d.)
III. Analysis of Meaning
A. Persona
The Dead Man Walking
The poems has a highly depressed and pessimistic tone and attitude. It depicts a state of numbness felt by the persona, which in this poem is the author himself.
Afterwards
The speaker in the poem, like in “The Dead Man Walking”, resembles the author. Hardy wrote this at age 77, so his thoughts are often leaned to go towards the concept of death. The attitude of the speaker towards death is light, almost as if daydreaming. It was shown that the speaker has accepted the inevitability of death so he started “fantasizing” different scenes of his death that he will not live to see.
The Darkling Thrush
Like most other poems by hardy, this poem has a depressed and gloomy attitude and tone to it, coloring the world in only shades of gray. What makes it different from the others is the shine of color at the end where things start to turn optimistic at the sign of hope.

B. Theme and Topic
The Dead Man Walking
The speaker is in so much despair that he sees only the negative things in his life. He compares himself to a dead man who is numb of all the pains that he is enduring now. The poem discusses the horrifying effects of having to endure pains beyond one’s threshold, turning a person to someone who is detached from this world save for his physicality.
Afterwards
Another topic that is very much avoided even until now is death. This might be because death signifies an end, so people, although some if not most won’t admit it even to themselves, have a mind-paralyzing fear of it. The poem demonstrates how one can come to terms with his own death, with the speaker noticeably more concerned about the legacies that he will be leaving behind rather than worry for what would happen to him after death.
The Darkling Thrush
C. Traditional Meaning
The Dead Man Walking
It seems as though all the speaker’s crises are a reflection of Hardy’s own problems. As he tried to show people the harsh realities that we are facing using his writing, he was showered with much negative criticism and disapproval. This was depicted in the lines,
“But when I practised eyeing
The goal of men,
It iced me, and I perished
A little then.”

He wrote this poem during his later years, so he saw different people pass from his life, shown in this stanza,

“When passed my friend, my kinsfolk
Through the last Door,
And left me standing bleakly,
I died yet more;”

He also mentioned how his wife has hated her, primarily because of the topics he tackled in his novels, in this part,

“And when my Love's heart kindled
In hate of me,
Wherefore I knew not, died I
One more degree.”

Afterwards
The five stanzas of the poem depicts different scenes that the speaker anticipates will happen at his death. Yet he didn’t, not even once, used the word “death” itself. This is probably because for most, death sounds final, an end. This is the opposite of what the poem tells us.
In all five scenarios, we can see that even though he would be gone, he expects to still exist, not in the physical term, but in the memories of those who knew him. But even this kind of existence he doubts he would achieve, as shown by some of the lines.
In line one, death is when the "Present" "latches" the "postern" (back door) on the speaker's "tremulous stay”. Using the word postern, instead of "front door," hints that the speaker might be afraid that no one will notice his death – it'll be like slipping silently out a back door.
In line five, the simile "like an eyelid's soundless blink" refers to the flight of the "dewfall-hawk" of line 6, but it could also make the reader think of the speaker's death, soundlessly passing by.
Despite this, the speaker has accepted death, and the fact that it is coming, probably sooner and not later. He tries to comfort himself into the idea by employing euphemism as shown in the poem, with the speaker not mentioning the word death itself, instead used terms like “stillness” which is more peaceful sounding.

The Darkling Thrush
This poem was written in 1899. What was special about that year is that it is the turn of the 19th century into the 20th. Not far from how people reacted in 1999, most were worried about the new changes that the turn of the century will bring. At this, they feared that being as it may that the 19th century was already dreary, the next century might turn out to be worse, which is something they cannot even fully imagine yet.
The poem gives the readers something positive to hold on to, saying that yes, there is a chance that things will go worse from here onwards, but there is always an equal opportunity for thing to turn for the better.

D. Reader Response Theory as a Contemporary Consciousness

The Dead Man Walking

The poem discusses one of the most “taboo” concepts of all, especially during the poet’s time, despair. It illustrates vividly how one can succumb into harrowing sadness, a vacuum that can pull you in with no chance of getting out.
People often avoid this topic, and feeling this emotion, by trying to distract themselves with other matters. But the thing is, with emotions like grief, anger, jealousy and envy, if you keep suppressing them, they will find a way to manifest themselves in an uglier form sooner or later. And if this happens, it will be harder to trace where it comes from, hence, harder to find your way through it. As a modernist, Hardy did an excellent job on creating intrigue regarding sensitive concepts, making people start to think, gradually removing stigmas and eventually people start to freely talk about this matters.

Afterwards
Once again, Hardy displays courage at publishing this kind of writing despite the criticisms he might face. It worked out well though, as the poem teaches the readers that many things in life are inevitable, like the end of life itself. So we might as well embrace this fact, and focus our attention to things that we can change, the things that we will be leaving behind us afterwards.

The Darkling Thrush
Similar to his other poems, Hardy again gives the readers a view of the things in reality that we fear the most. This time, it is something bigger than the first two poems here: change. People fear change because there is no certainty of what might come. For example, in death, you already know what would be coming with it when it arrives, but with change, it’s a wild card. This makes it hard for people who are seeing the “ugly” of the world, the “ghosts” of our past, to see that positive change is still possible, even from the smallest things.