MaryAnn and August,

Many thanks for setting me straight on the Slate posting culture. As you guessed, I have never posted here before, until drawn here by the combination of Hardy and Robert. It is indeed a rich and wonderful culture. I happen to be just starting our 10-day residency at the Stonecoast program, which is why I am posting at 1 Am... but I am enjoying the observations and threads, chaotic as they are, immensely.

Mark, I am so grateful to you for posting the Thrush song! It's wonderful. I want to go find some immediately. Has anyone ever seen one? This site has information on its oh-so-sadly shrinking habitat and population and some leads on how to help it come back. <link>

Randy and Zinya,

The ending of "The Oxen" seems a very good parallel indeed. But the slight but crucial difference is that "The Oxen" ends on a note of hoping--while "The Darkling Thrush" ends on a note of wilfully choosing NOT to hear hope. The narrator has conjured up the hope, but only to decide that he doesn't feel it/is not aware of it. A pretty complex feat of irony.

I've posted my own idea as to why Hardy would choose this willful unawareness in the thread called "Anticlimax." <link>

I'd be interested to know what any of you think of this idea.