Drummer Hodge by Thomas Hardy Essay - 830 Words

Drummer Hodge by Thomas Hardy Drummers were usually the very youngest of soldiers and were considered to be too young to fight. This instantly sets a very sombre tone as the reader realises the soldier was very young when he died. The word Hodge is used to describe him and was once used as a derogatory term for a farm labourer however Hardy means no disrespect as he has openly showed his admiration for countrymen. This term is merely one of many techniques used to emphasis how foreign the Drummer is. A Dead Boche by Robert Graves describes an encounter with a dead Boche; the word boche was an offensive term for a German. These two poems are instantly different as one is written about a†¦show more content†¦The poem A Dead Boche sounds almost funny as Graves sets it up in a similar style to a limerick. He directs the reader personally with the use of the personal pronoun you and address himself as I creating a very informal atmosphere. However like Drummer Hodge, the dead German has just been left in a foreign country without a proper burial and goodbye. The contrast between the soldier and his strange resting place is prominent in the second stanza. Hardy again uses the Afrikaans term Karoo and the imagery of the harsh and dry bush land. The repetition of the image of dust and ground is a reference to the burial the Drummer should have received it also acts as a bigger metaphor for growth and fertility. Hardy also uses the foreign stars to highlight Hodges alien grave, Hodge would have seen the constellations before his death but too rarely for him to know them. Yet a portion of that unknown plain Will Hodge for ever be; Hodge remains un-heroic throughout the poem and dies unknown. However, despite his ignorance of the land that now surrounds him, Hodges body will now be part of the veldt forever. His body will provide the nutrients to help grow some Southern tree which will eventually provide for the South Africans creating an irony that Hodge would have died for his country yet buried in a strange land with no dignity and goes on to provideShow MoreRelatedThe Portrayal of War in the Poems, The Cry of South Africa and Drummer Hodge740 Words   |  3 PagesThomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English author who considered himself mainly as a poet. A large part of his work was set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex. In 1898 Hardy published a collection of poems written over 30 years, Wessex Poems his first volume of poetry. Emma Lavinia Gifford, Hardy’s wife, whom he married in 1874. He became alienated from his wife, who died in 1912; her death had a traumati c effect on him. He remained preoccupied with his first wifes deathRead More Attitudes to War in Dulce et Decorum est and Drummer Hodge. Essay2066 Words   |  9 PagesAttitudes to War in Dulce et Decorum est and Drummer Hodge. Life wasnt easy for soldiers in the war as Wilfred Owen and Thomas Hardy express strongly in their legendary poems Dulce et Decorum est and Drummer Hodge. Peter Porter writes about the situation people may find themselves in when in, his poem Your Attention Please, he describes an announcement concerning a nuclear Rocket Strike. Wilfred Owen died at the age of 25 and was killed seven days before the end of World War 1.Read MoreThomas Hardy as a War Poet1932 Words   |  8 PagesThomas Hardy as a War Poet Thomas Hardy is one of the most famous and prolific British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Most people recognize Hardy as an author of novels, but he preferred to write poetry. Both his novels and his poetry give a pessimistic view of the world. Subjects for his poetry include nature, love, and war. Most of his poems on war have tragic themes and present humans as having little control over their destinies. A major theme of Thomas Hardy’s tragicRead MoreLiterature Marking Scheme9477 Words   |  38 Pagesmust answer on one set text from this section: ** Thomas Hardy The following fourteen poems: Neutral Tones ‘I Look into My Glass’ Drummer Hodge The Darkling Thrush On the Departure Platform The Pine Planters The Convergence of the Twain The Going The Voice At the Word ‘Farewell’ During Wind and Rain In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations’ No Buyers: A Street Scene Nobody Comes These may be found in Selected Poems, ed. Harry Thomas (Penguin). Poems printed in the paper will follow