Turning the Century with Thomas Hardy

December 31, 1900, marked the eve of the twentieth century and also the date Thomas Hardy assigned to his poetic work 'The Darkling Thrush.' James Chandler, professor of English and the humanities, reads this poem in the context of its nineteenth-century literary predecessors and also as an entre to considering how skills of reading and interpretation may change in the forthcoming years. Copyright 2000 The University of Chicago.