After we did the research on Butoh, Aparna suggested we can use the poem The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy as the theme and direction of this project.
The Darkling Thrush
by Thomas Hardy
I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
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.
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.
The poem reflects the transition from the Victorian era to a more uncertain and disillusioned modern age. At the start of the poem, the speaker stands amidst a winter landscape, witnessing the desolate state of nature. The portrayal of the scenery as “spectre-grey” and “winter’s dregs” intensifies the feeling of decay and lifelessness. The speaker experiences a disconnection from the vibrant splendor of nature and expresses sorrow over the lack of joy and meaning in the world. Then the thrush appears and begins to sing, and the birdsongs is filled with a remarkable sense of vitality and optimism, as it describe it as ‘full-hearted evensong’.
We thought this poem are really fits to our project. The theme of Butoh is death and reborn, and the theme of this poem is death of an era, and new ear begin. For further discussion, we thought Mai could the both the narrator of the poem and the thrush. Then for the sound, we could follow the flow of the poem, moving from the decay and lifelessness, to the thrush, the hope.