Poetry Analysis of Thomas Hardy's "The Oxen" Essay

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Poetry Analysis of Thomas Hardy's "The Oxen"

The English poet Thomas Hardy wrote a seemingly simple piece titled "The Oxen" in 1915, as the industrialized slaughter of World War I raged throughout the European continent. Although the light tone and themes of holiday reverence and religious worship which are present throughout "The Oxen" suggest a sense of innocence, the poem actually represents the futile yearnings of a jaded old man in his seventy-fifth year, one who has long since abandoned the faith of his childhood despite a lingering affection for religious teachings. To understand the true meaning of "The Oxen," it is important to begin with an examination of its author's life and circumstances at the time it was written. As a young man, Hardy had aspired to a career as a priest working within the church which was so beloved during his childhood, but his educational experiences as a young man led him to forego this earlier recognition of faith in favor of the empirical scientific study so popular during his era. Despite his better judgment, however, Hardy maintained a natural affinity for certain tenets and beliefs which were espoused to him during his youth, and "The Oxen" was written during a moment of reminiscence and nostalgia, as Hardy fondly remembered his innocent belief in religious teachings.

The first stanza of the poem is used by Hardy to establish the metaphorical setting he intends to expand upon in subsequent stanzas. When Hardy writes "Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock./'Now they are all on their knees,'" this passage is intended to convey religious undertones, as midnight on Christmas Eve is a crucial moment in Christian history as interpreted from the biblical perspective.

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The mention of an unknown group (who we come to understand are the titular oxen) on their knees in a demonstration of worship further establishes the religious theme of the poem. Hardy shifts the reader's attention in the final two lines of the opening stanza, when he writes "An elder said as we sat in a flock/By the embers in hearthside ease," because this image reveals the poem's implicit conceit of Hardy remembering the willingness with which he once believed the now whimsical teachings of church elders.

The second stanza continues with Hardy's central theme by compelling the reader to consider their own conception of certain foundational images from biblical history, as he writes "We pictured the meek mild creatures where/They dwelt in their strawy pen,/Nor did it occur to one of us there/To doubt they were kneeling then." This image of the oxen in Jesus' manger kneeling in recognition of humanity's savoir is widely known among the Christian community, serving as one aspect of an assemblage of "proof" confirming that the newborn Christ was indeed a divine figure, and here Hardy reminds the reader -- and no doubt himself as well -- that as a child these fantastical tales were readily believable.

Hardy uses the poem's third stanza to return the reader jarringly to the present tense, as the now aged and world….....

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