By the century's deathbed | The darkling thrush | I leaned upon a coppice gate

by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

I leaned upon a coppice gate

Language: English

Our translations: GER

I leaned upon a coppice gate
  When frost was specter-gray,
And winter's dregs made desolate
  The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
  Like strings from 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 fervorless as I.

At once a voice burst forth among
  The bleak twigs overhead
In 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.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• L. Hoiby • J. Weir

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes
First published in Graphic, 1900, rev. 1902

Text Authorship:

by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "By the century's deathbed", December 31st, 1899 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Rutland Boughton (1878 - 1960), "Evensong", 1923, published 1924 [ voice and piano or strings ], from Three Hardy Songs, no. 2, note: may be the wrong text for this title [sung text not yet checked]
by Ronald Caviani (b. 1931), "The darkling thrush" [ satb chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "The darkling thrush", 2004 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Roger S. Keele (b. 1954), "The Darkling Thrush", 2009 [ high voice and piano ], from Six Seasonal Songs for High Voice and Piano, no. 5, Dowling Music [sung text not yet checked]
by Robin Humphrey Milford (1903 - 1959), "The darkling thrush", published 1930 [ violin solo and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Judith Weir (b. 1954), "Written on terrestrial things", 2003 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from The Voice of Desire, no. 3, Chester Music Ltd [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-12
Line count: 32
Word count: 160