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Question

Difficulty: MediumSpeaker and Perspective

Read the following excerpt from Thomas Hardy's poem 'The Darkling Thrush' (published in 1900) carefully:

(1) I leant upon a coppice gate
(2) When Frost was spectre-gray,
(3) And Winter's dregs made desolate
(4) The weakening eye of day.
(5) The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
(6) Like strings of broken lyres,
(7) And all mankind that haunted nigh
(8) Had sought their household fires.
(9) The land's sharp features seemed to be
(10) The Century's corpse outleant,
(11) His crypt the cloudy canopy,
(12) The wind his death-lament.
(13) The ancient pulse of germ and birth
(14) Was shrunken hard and dry,
(15) And every spirit upon earth
(16) Seemed fervourless as I.

Which of the following best describes the speaker’s relationship to the surrounding landscape in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The author uses the speaker to document their autobiographical experience of surviving a historically harsh winter.
  2. B
    The speaker provides a literal description of a geographic region undergoing a sudden ecological collapse.
  3. The speaker projects their own sense of despondency and isolation onto the bleak winter environment.Answer
  4. D
    The speaker narrates their journey of walking through a gate to find shelter from the storm with other villagers.
  5. E
    The speaker employs similes and metaphors to list the physical characteristics of the winter afternoon.

Answer

The speaker projects their own sense of despondency and isolation onto the bleak winter environment.
The correct option identifies that the speaker projects their own internal despondency onto the landscape. This is supported by the final lines where the speaker notes that everything on earth seemed as 'fervourless' as they are, showing that the bleak description of winter is a reflection of the speaker's own emotional state.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the final lines of the excerpt, noting the comparison between the speaker and the environment.
The speaker states that every spirit on earth 'Seemed fervourless as I' (line 16).
This establishes a direct parallel between the speaker's internal emotional state ('fervourless') and the external world.
2
Examine the imagery and figurative language used to describe the setting in the preceding lines.
The landscape is described using desolate, death-related imagery, such as winter's 'dregs,' the 'Century's corpse,' and the wind as a 'death-lament.'
This shows that the description of the setting is not objective or neutral, but is colored by the speaker's feelings of despair.
3
Synthesize these findings to identify the relationship between the speaker and the environment.
The speaker's perspective is one of projection, where the external landscape serves as a reflection of their own internal despondency.
To select the option that accurately captures how the speaker's attitude is mapped onto the desolate setting.

Key Concept

Understanding how a speaker's perspective and emotional state shape their representation of the setting.
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Topics

Speaker and Perspective

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