Oxen by Thomas Hardy

TP CASTT: Oxen by Thomas Hardy Title- I predict the poem will be about something about an ox. In addition, I predict the oxen in the poem will symbolize strength, so an idea of strength or power might be portrayed. Paraphrase- It is Christmas Eve and an elder is telling the children a story near the fire. The children initially believe the story about Oxen kneeling and did not doubt the fact at all. Years later, the children obviously grow older and eventually do not believe the story the elder told. However, somewhat wish they did believe the story. Connotation- Imagery: Metaphor “So fair a fancy would weave” The word fair means beautiful or according to the rules, fancy means play of imagination, and weave means to form cloth by interlacing stands and to the direct the body in a winding or zigzag course especially to avoid obstacles. This basically means that according to what the elders say is considered true and really the effect of the non-supported truth is exciting, because it allows you to play with your imagination, but then it says “few would weave.” This means that the people who do this are probably just doing it to avoid the truth that maybe the truth is just not as exciting as something that requires imagination. To be brief, it can be compared to Santa Claus children usually believe in Santa Claus and when they find out they deny that truth because believing is Santa is just simply fun. Metaphor “I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.” : The word gloom means going into darkness or sadness. The gloom represents darkness but not in the case of absence of light; rather darkness as in distorted truth. What the speaker is saying is that gloom or darkness—distorted truth is better than knowingly living in a reality. The speaker wishes he could go back and believe that the story was actually true, which is compared to religion and hoping it’s actually true. (This sentence is actually symbolism—thought it fits best