“Drummer Hodge” Summary

“Drummer Hodge” Themes

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  The Cruel Randomness of War

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  Imperialism and Disorientation

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Drummer Hodge”

• Lines 1-4

  They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
  Uncoffined—just as found:
  His landmark is a kopje-crest
  That breaks the veldt around;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  And foreign constellations west
  Each night above his mound.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-12

  Young Hodge the Drummer never knew—
  Fresh from his Wessex home—
  The meaning of the broad Karoo,
  The Bush, the dusty loam,
  And why uprose to nightly view
  Strange stars amid the gloam.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Yet portion of that unknown plain
  Will Hodge for ever be;
  His homely Northern breast and brain
  Grow up a Southern tree,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-18

  And strange-eyed constellations reign
  His stars eternally.

  

  

  

  

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“Drummer Hodge” Symbols

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  Stars

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“Drummer Hodge” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Antithesis

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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“Drummer Hodge” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Uncoffined
• Kopje-crest
• Veldt
• West
• Mound
• Wessex
• Karoo
• The Bush
• Loam
• Uprose
• Gloam
• Northern/Southern
• Reign
• His stars

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Drummer Hodge”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Drummer Hodge” Speaker

“Drummer Hodge” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Drummer Hodge”

More “Drummer Hodge” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a recitation of the poem in the film The History Boys (2006).

  • The Poet's Life and Work — Read a biography of Hardy at the Poetry Foundation.

  • Hardy's Era — Read the Poetry Foundation's introduction to the Victorian era in which Hardy wrote.

  • A Hardy Documentary — Watch the BBC documentary "The Heart of Thomas Hardy."

  • More About the Author — Learn more about Hardy at the website of the Thomas Hardy Society.

  • The Second Anglo-Boer War — Learn more about the conflict on which Hardy based the poem.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Thomas Hardy

  • A Broken Appointment

  • Afterwards

  • At an Inn

  • At Castle Boterel

  • A Wife in London

  • Channel Firing

  • Hap

  • He Never Expected Much

  • Neutral Tones

  • The Convergence of the Twain

  • The Darkling Thrush

  • The Man He Killed

  • The Oxen

  • The Ruined Maid

  • The Voice

  • Where the Picnic Was