Drummer Hodge Flashcards
Background information about drummer hodge:
Drummer boys were used to carry messages and ammunition to the front line and were very vulnerable.
- It was written in 1899.
- This was a few weeks after the start of the second Boer war.
What is the poem about?
The poem tells the story of a British soldier during the Boer War period in South Africa who is buried without ceremony and in a very foreign environment especially considering that he came from a village in Dorset.
Recurring themes of the poem
- A contrast between his humble roots and the exotic South African landscape.
- Repeated use of the description of ‘unfamiliar stars’ watching over his grave.
- Use of the idea that Hodge become part of the landscape.
- A sense that Hardy is trying to convey how literature is a peaceful and beautiful way to immortalize someone rather than trying to be a war hero.
‘They throw in Drummer Hodge to rest
Uncoffined just as found’
The use of the word ‘throw’ indicates a careless attitude towards the soldier, could have been place.
It may indicate that strangers found him rather than his comrades as he was not given a proper burial.
The use of the name Hodge may represent the average soldier as it is a very regular name with associations to the countryside, (i.e. Hodge represents all the unfortunate drummer boys/regular soldiers who died in the war and were forgotten)
Hardy gave him a name though, this poem is something he can be remembered by (or all the soldiers as that is whom Hodge represents) even if he didn’t have a proper burial.
These lines set up the tone for the poem, which is that war is so unforgiving and pointless. No one gains anything from it despite the risks taken and the lives lost.
Someone like Drummer Hodge who had to complete very brave tasks, as although ‘Drummer’ is a low rank they had to send messenges and ammunition to the front line, didn’t even get a respectful burial. This shows how war can be cruel to innocent people (in this case Drummer Hodge).
‘His landmark is a kopje crest
That breaks the veldt around’
These lines suggest that Hodge has not even been given a marked grave. Hardy is trying to convey to the reader that war is not the way to achieve immortality but instead Hardy manages to immortalize Hodge by writing this poem (much more memorable).
‘Kopje’ is Afrikaans for small isolated hill.
The use of the native language amongst the English vocabulary further highlights how alone drummer Hodge is. It should also be pointed out that ‘Kopje’ represents how small and isolated Hodge is (the literal isolation of the word and meaning of the word highlights Hodge’s situation).
the environment is so foreign it forms a ‘veldt’ around him, which originates from Afrikaans meaning an elevated open grass land. Hodge is literally surrounded, trapped and encircled by this foreign environment. This has to be read in the context that Hodge comes from a village in Dorset. It also relates to what is said in the summary of the poem which is that it seems as if Hodge is becoming a part of the landscape.
The reader can relate to the sentiments that Hodge must have felt because the alienating diction because they are unfamiliar and strange to anyone.
‘And foreign constellations west
Each night above his mound’
The constellations will be constantly changling, allowing hodge never to be at peace with his new home and giving him absolutely no sense of the permanent.
Only thing permanent is the poem, this shows Hardy’s negative views on the war and he pities these young boys.
Confirms he was actually buried there, previously just hinted.
‘Young Hodge the drummer never knew
Fresh from his Wessex home
The meaning of the broad Karoo’
Hodge didnt know the ‘meaning’ of war, or what he was getting himself into. It was probably built up and glamourised at the time but Hardy is trying to show that this is the real result of wars.
He is obviously a young boy (from historical context/knowledge about drummer boys) and the appeal of traveling somewhere far away from home may have seemed exciting but he didn’t know what the consequences would be in following up on that curiosity.
The fact we know he was extremely young triggers huge sympathy and a sense of regret because it is a waste of a life. He is descrived as ‘Young’ and ‘Fresh from his Wessex home’; he was probably under the age of 17.
‘The Bush, the dusty loam
And why uprose to nightly view
Strange stars amid the gloam’
The list of unexpected things Hodge never knew about further illustrates and extends on the point that Hodge didn’t truly understand what he was signing up for. It can be said that he didn’t even know the meaning of war, symbolised by his lack of knowledge of South Africa.
He places the word strange in front of stars means that despite the fact the boy had travelled all this way, he didn’t even get to learn and appreciate South Africa. It emphasises the knowledge he COULD have had as well. But now he will ‘eternally’ be unaware of so much.
Throughout the poem there are references to immortality due to use of words such as ‘eternally’, he will forever remain a young boy.
This description of South Africa is purposely placed after the description of Hodge’s Dorset village in order to highlight the contrast between the two environments.
The fact that the words such as kopje and South Africa seem foreign to us even with the standard of today’s communication with the whole world and resources of information really emphasizes what it must have felt like to be Drummer Hodge. (Good end personal point)
‘Yet portion of that unknown plain
Will Hodge for ever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree’
This is Hardy saying that his death has no effect and is pointless. He now remains as part of the landscape which will go back to looking how it did before, without a trace of his sacrifice. It is likely no one will even know he is there. A young boy died, the world does not care and more will just continue to die. Of course ‘drummer Hodge’ represents not just one boy but thousands.
The fact he is now blended in with the environment confirms the permanence of his death.
The obvious georgraphical contrast between north and south emphasises how out of place he is. ‘breast and brain’ show even if he is in the bush in south Africa, at heart and mind he will always be ‘Northern’.
‘And strange-eyed constellations reign
His stars eternally.’
The last line is redemptive as it shows he will live on forever though he is dead whether through Hardy’s poem or the nature around him. Although the stars above him are still ‘strange-eyed’ as if they are watching him like one who doesn’t belong, they are now ‘his’ so he really is part of the landscape now.
As he is buried in the soil his body will decompose and his Northern heart will nourish the Southern tree. This represents the continuous cycle of life but also, along with the fact that they are ‘his’ stars I think it shows he can finally be at peace, something that seemed near impossible in the foreign, isolated landscape in the first stanza.
The last line is short, like his life. ‘eternally’ as if he will live on through the poem or tree.The falling rhythym of the lines emphasises the natural cycle of death.
Talk about the structure of the poem
It is 18 lines, quite a short poem. Perhaps he was 18 and the number of lines is meant to emphasis how young he was.
Each stanze has 6 lines which is a lot for one verse, this could represent that though he was young he went to war already so he did a lot in his 18 or less years, arguably too much.
The first stanze is present, second is past and third is future. This could remind us that life is just made up of those three things and it is just a shame Hodge didn’t fully get to experience them.
The meter of the poem alternates between tetrametre and triameter. This structure has connotations with English hyms which is relevant to this poem as it is like commemorating the soldier with and in the poem, something Hardy makes clear did not happen in actual fact. It also provides contrast with the foreign landscape, it is something close to home.
How is this memorable for you personally?
As someone who is not at a dissimilar age as Hodge and the boys he represented going to war, it is particularly shocking and sad to read of someone so young dying. Hardy presents it as if he died for no real cause, the tree would have grown without him and that is the cycle of life but there was no real need for him to die so young. You are definitely protected more from these sort of things when you’re young and death doesn’t feel like something to worry about which is probably how these boys felt going into war as they didn’t know the ‘meaning of’ war and they had the mentality that it was never you that was going to die.
