Desert Island Poems: The Oxen by Thomas Hardy

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'Nativity' by Hans Baldung (1520)

The Oxen

By Thomas Hardy

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.

“Now they are all on their knees,”

An elder said as we sat in a flock

By the embers in hearthside ease.

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.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet, I feel,

If someone said on Christmas Eve,

“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,”

I should go with him in the gloom,

Hoping it might be so.

Hardy the Optimist?

Thomas Hardy wasn't known for his upbeat nature and optimism (at least not in his writing), and perhaps this should come as no surprise given the various tragedies that befell him such as the breakdown of his first marriage, the sudden death of his wife, the suicide of a close friend and the controversies that blew up around the depiction of sexuality in his novels in a repressed Victorian society. So, perhaps this poem, The Oxen (written in 1915), is as hopeful as we may hope to find him.

Syntax Supremo

I can't say I love all of Hardy's poetry, as I sometimes find it too condensed for its own good, and that he often pays for technical prowess at the expense of feeling, but there is so much I admire about this one: the tight structure, the rhythm, the well handled rhyme, the integration of dialogue (also found famously in The Ruined Maid), the inclusion of a little bit of vernacular speech, and, the most impressive of all of Hardy's skills: his syntax, and how he works the sentence across several lines. This last trait is one that I think only the finest poets share and makes me think of the work of W. B. Yeats and Edward Thomas to name but two. It's a perfectly balanced poem in so many ways, and one of his which does achieve a strong emotional impact, which resonates long after the poem is over. To write a good poem about Christmas is hard, as too often, even when the poet might not intend, it may be seen as contrived or written for the occasion on purpose. But to write a timeless one like this, using the oxen (in many ways the minor characters of the nativity) as a focal point is where the poem's originality and achievement begins.

So much about Christmas has been commercialised, dumbed down and cheapened, but art like this poem of Hardy's feels so authentic and connected to its rituals, history and something more meaningful about the season, engaging with the Christianity of the season in an interesting way, even if Hardy's own relationship to his faith was complicated.

What Happens in the Poem?

In basic terms, the poem is set on a Christmas Eve, with the speaker remembering sitting by the fire as a child with other children, being spoken to by 'an elder', presumably of the church, who, in keeping with folkloric beliefs, suggests that at '12 of the clock' the oxen will be kneeling in the fields just as they did at the manger in Bethlehem all those years ago. The speaker then goes on to say how they pictured the meek creatures doing that, without really questioning what they were being told and how unrealistic it was. The speaker goes on to say that, while nobody would really spin a story like that anymore, there is a part of him that wants to believe it is true, who wants to believe the nativity happened, and who wants to be hopeful, despite their better judgement.

Bovine Beginnings

Let's start with the animal itself, the oxen. Now, firstly it should be noted that oxen do not kneel, and it's pure folklore that they do. We should also note that oxen are specifically male, castrated bovines used for work, whereas cows are used for milk production, calving and beef. This is all important as Hardy could well have called the poem donkey, or cattle, or cows, but didn't. He chose the word oxen specifically. I think there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I think it tunes into the folklore nicely, and the idea of an animal as inelegant and cumbersome as an ox would be able to genuflect in front of the baby Jesus provides a great contrast, and a moment of tenderness, as the brute force of the animal set against its supernatural ability to kneel and be deferential and 'meek'. The particular contrast of the weight and size of the animal in comparison to the slightness of the baby is also stark and provides an emphatic contrast.

Ox, Oxen and the Elder

The fact Hardy refers to The Oxen and not simply The Ox or Ox is also important and is more than a little symbolic. An ox is an older, working cow, which can no longer reproduce due to its castration. This becomes very relevant when we take into account the fact that Hardy was very critical of Victorian Christianity, with its rigid dogmas, and that in this poem he refers to 'an elder' who he seems to mock for believing that the oxen are kneeling. So, could it be, then, that in titling the poem 'The Oxen' that Hardy is subtly comparing 'an elder' or the elders or figureheads of the church to these bullocks, past their best and out of touch with their times, as 'So fair a fancy few would weave/ in these years!'? Could 'The Oxen' of the title in reality be referring to and pointed at the elders of the church, who are in themselves symbols of the church or at least everything Hardy has come to detest about Victorian Christianity? Whatever is the case, we particularly sense Hardy's dubiousness and questioning of these elders in the phrase 'nor did it occur to one of us there/ to doubt they were kneeling then.' Implicit in this statement is that now Hardy does doubt it, and with his maturity has come a sense of criticality and questioning of the words of the elders of the church. The case for this reading is bolstered when we look at how he portrays the children as 'a flock' of sheep, carrying with it all the connotations of being easily led and manipulated. However, as we have witnessed in his great 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd, all it takes is a wayward dog to lead the sheep off a cliff. The Oxen, by extension then, become a symbol of Christian belief in itself i.e. to believe in the oxen kneeling, is to believe in Christianity itself.

'In These Years!'

I've always been caught by this phrase in the poem. What is Hardy saying about 'these years!'? And why the exclamation mark, which is so un-Hardy? It's hard to look past the historical context here, how the poem was written in 1915 and how he's referring to a more cynical time, a time when belief in God seems to have evaporated in the hard, brutal days of war. What God, after all, could have allowed war? But, outside of this argument, we could also read this phrase as Hardy suggesting that perhaps in a more, industrialised world the art of folklore or storytelling has been lost, and he could be seen to be lamenting that fact in this phrase. Are they not weaving fancies like this anymore because they are too cynical or because they have lost the art of storytelling and folklore? One of the great things about this poem, as with all of these Desert Island Poems, is how they never fully answer their own questions, or answer them in a way which provokes re-reading.

Coombs and Bartons

Before we get to the finale of the poem – and what a finale it is – we should discuss Hardy's use of vernacular as in his use of 'lonely barton' (a barn) and 'yonder coomb' (a valley). Hardy writes great dialogue, not only in his novels (again, see Far from the Madding Crowd) but also in his poems (again, see 'The Ruined Maid'). To me it seems that the vernacular signifies a sense of rootedness for Hardy but also a sense of authenticity: place is language and language is place, and what are either of these things but pillars of identity? So, for the speaker in this poem to suggest going to a childhood place, not just in standard English, but in the verncaular or coomb and barton, suggests an intimacy but also returning to, not just a geographical place but an emotional one, a return to a childhood place, but also a return to one's childhood self, and perhaps, therefore a more authentic self.

Hoping it Might Be So

The ending of the poem is non-committal from Hardy. He doesn't allow himself to blindly believe the oxen will be kneeling in 'yonder coomb' but at the same time doesn't disallow himself from entertaining the possibility. He is presented as not being dismissive of his friend, but at the same time he is 'hoping' it might be so'. I do tend to read this poem as a departure for Hardy, as he is leaving the door of belief open, the possibility of the miraculous, and is allowing himself a moment to find the extraordinary through 'the gloom.'