Dummer hodge Flashcards
The role of the drummer
team morale; signals; carry the wounded to safety
Kopje
Afrikaans word for a small hill
Rhyme scheme
ababab cdcdcd efefef
Rhyme scheme
ababab cdcdcd efefef
Explain the title “Drummer Hodge”
Title= impersonal, highlights lack of importance
explain verse 2 ‘Uncoffined—just as found’
There is a lack of respect with regards to the burial, theres an urgency as the war is on going and thrown into hole
explain verse 3 and 4 ‘His landmark is a kopje-crest’ ‘That breaks the veldt around’
there is no tombstone (rocks stacked on top of eachother), since rocks is the tombstone and it disturbs the flat group
explain verse 5 and 6 ‘And foreign constellations west’
‘Each night above his mound’
drummer “lies” under the ground under the stars in the Karoo veld, ‘foreign constellations west’ strange unfamiliar stars for drummer Hodge as his from the northern hemisphere
explain the use of the word ‘Young’ in verse 7 (Young Hodge the drummer never knew—)
Emphasis Hodge’s naivety, he never knew what he was getting himself into. He thought he was doing his country, England a service
explain verse 8 and 9 ‘Fresh from his Wessex home—’
‘The meaning of the broad Karoo’
He did not have the opportunity to understand/ explore the surroundings. (experience life beyond his own- for his own enjoyment)
explain the meaning of Karoo in verse 9 and ‘The Bush, the dusty loam’ verse 10
vast and dry, the bush is wild and far from civilisation, refers to the dry soil of Southern Africa
Explain the meaning of ‘strange stars’ verse 12 (Strange stars amid the gloam)
Metaphor for unfamiliar place,
explain verse 13 and 14 ‘Yet portion of that unknown plain’ ‘Will Hodge forever be’
buried in the dry alien soil of Afrika, he became part of the landscape
explain the use of ‘his homely’ in verse 15
refers to the fact that he was a simple country boy
explain verse 15 and 16 ‘Northern breast and brain’ ‘Grow to some Southern tree’
his body is going to be absorbed by the roots of a strange african tree
