DRUMMER HODGE

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  • DRUMMER HODGE
    • KEY QUOTES
      • "Uncoffined - just as found."
      • "And foreign constellations west/Each night above his mound."
      • "Strange stars amid the gloam."
        • ANTITHESIS
      • "And strange contellations reign/His stars eternally."
        • METAPHOR & PERSONIFICATION
      • "His homely Northern breast and brain/Grow to some Southern tree."
        • ANTITHESIS
    • CONTEXT
      • Written based on Hardy's experience in the Boer War.
      • Hardy lived through both Boer Wars and WW1.
      • As a liberal, Hardy believed the Boers had a right to the land.
    • LANGUAGE & IMAGERY
      • Drummers were young boys who kept time as soldiers marched - age suggests innocence - creating PATHOS.
        • CONTEXT
          • Written based on Hardy's experience in the Boer War.
          • Hardy lived through both Boer Wars and WW1.
          • As a liberal, Hardy believed the Boers had a right to the land.
      • The use of CELESTIAL IMAGERY throughout the poem transforms Drummer Hodge from a "foreign" landscape to one which he belongs in - "his stars".
      • Unnamed - no one cares or knows his name - amongst thousands who died in the same way.
      • "Reign" - will never be free.
      • ANTITHESIS throughout the poem (i.e. "stars amid the gloam" emphasises the contrasts between his "Wessex home" and the "broad Karoo".
    • FORM & STRUCTURE
      • Made up of three stanzas, each of six lines.
      • The indentation of the lines reflects his rejection from the land around him.

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