Works of Thomas Hardy discussion

Drummer Hodge

1

They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined--just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest
That breaks the veldt around:
And foreign constellations west
Each night above his mound.

2

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.

3

Yet portion of that unknown plain
Will Hodge for ever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellations reign
His stars eternally.

This poem is set in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Hardy heard that a local Dorset drummer boy had died in the war and was moved to write this poem. The poem was first printed in November 1899, six weeks after war began.

The Second Boer War: October 11, 1899 to May 31, 1902

This was a war between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (South African Republic and the Orange Free State).
The Boer name for the war is Tweede Vryheidsoorlog (Second Freedom War).

The British forces, including the British Expeditionary Forces from all parts of the Empire, swiftly occupied the Boer territories. The Boers engaged in guerilla warfare and refused to accept defeat. They finally surrended since many innocent civilians had lost their lives in concentration camps and due to scorched earth policies.

Many British soldiers died due of diseases, not just in battle.

Although many volunteered to go to war, there existed significant opposition to the war in Britain.

Drummer:
A drummer was responsible for the army drums for use on the battlefield.
Drums were used not only for men to march in step, but were an important part of battlefield communications.

Kop:
A prominent isolated hill or mountain in southern Africa
Kopje: a small kop (literally a little head)

Veldt:
An elevated open grassland in southern Africa

Karoo:
Any of several high arid plateaus in South Africa

The Bush:
A large area that has not been cleared and that is not used for farming

Any first thoughts or impressions about this poem?

Thank you for the background information, Rosemarie. It's a powerful poem. Noticeably, Yet portion of that unknown plain / Will Hodge for ever be is in a similar vein to (and predates) The Soldier by Rupert Brooke: If I should die, think only this of me: / That there’s some corner of a foreign field / That is for ever England.

It is a sad and beautiful poem simultaneously. I do like how he seems to bring the stars and constellations close by, as if enveloping the grave in a blanket.

I didn’t know this poem of Hardy’s but knew of Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” and can see its similarities.
Indeed, conscription for the Army at this time was notable for a large number of recruits being deemed medically unfit (around a quarter from memory) and presaged the development of public health, public education and the welfare state in the UK in order to improve early childhood morbidity and particularly nutrition, as the majority of recruits were suffering from diseases allied to poverty-malnutrition, poor dentition, vitamin deficiencies etc.
This was also the war that Winston Churchill reported on as a war correspondent!

There's a sense of a drumbeat with the rhythm and the short rhyming verses.

It's a very sad poem especially because the drummer died so young and so far from home. It shows a quick battlefield burial with the words:

"They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined--just as found"

It's such a different burial compared with a respectful church funeral and burial in Wessex. The words "throw in" are so cold, but it is a reality of war.

Connie wrote: "The words "throw in" are so cold, but it is a reality of war..."

Oh yes. What a poignant little poem this is. All we know about "Hodge" is reduced to his function in the war. A drummer is so anonymous.

Thank you for choosing this one Rosemarie, and for all the information. I was glad you'd posted a much-needed glossary! It's now linked to our poetry list, and moved to "current group reads".

A month before Drummer Hodge was published, Hardy made a notebook cutting of a poem entitled War by Herbert Cadett. It was published in the Daily Chronicle, 28 October 1899. It begins:

Private Smith of the Royals; the veldt and a slate-black sky.
Hillocks of mud, brick-red with blood, and a prayer – half curse – to die.
A lung and a Mauser bullet; pink froth and a half-choked cry.

Source: Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems edited by Tim Armstrong

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I find this fascinating, because here we have an example of a continuing trail of poets being inspired by each other's work. Later, Brooke was very likely influenced by Hardy when writing The Soldier. It's worth reading Cadett's poem, it makes for an interesting comparison (link below).

A note on Herbert Cadett:

Cadett remained virtually unknown. He apparently had a novel published. I had to add the author, the book and his poem to the Goodreads database. I found just two references to his published poem. A four stanza version was included in the book Crossing Borders in Victorian Travel: Spaces, Nations and Empires and a three stanza version included in someone's 1975 thesis on The Poetry of the Anglo-Boer War.

I've added both versions of the poem to Goodreads. The poem is very good. It can be read here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quot...

Jane wrote: "Thank you for the background information, Rosemarie. It's a powerful poem. Noticeably, Yet portion of that unknown plain / Will Hodge for ever be is in a similar vein to (and predates) [book:The So..."

Thank you for giving us the name of the poem, Jane. I know the Brooke poem but couldn't remember the title.

A different war but a similar situation.

What struck me is that we never know his name. He's either called Drummer Hodge or Young Hodge.
In Dorset, everyon would know him, but in the army-who did?
He doesn't even have a marker with his name on it.

Bionic Jean wrote: "What a poignant little poem this is. All we know about "Hodge" is reduced to his function in the war. A drummer is so anonymous."

I feel Hardy does a good job in bringing the individual back into the picture of these situations of mass death. It's sometimes difficult to keep that in mind. I find that to be the case lately, with the ever increasing death toll of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria (my close neighbours).

Rosemarie wrote: "What struck me is that we never know his name. He's either called Drummer Hodge or Young Hodge. In Dorset, everyone would know him, but in the army-who did?"

I'm currently reading Claire Tomalin's biography, Thomas Hardy, and it mentions that Drummer Hodge was inspired by the death of a Dorset drummer boy in Africa. Sadly, he wasn't named. Now he is memorialised in Hardy's poem. How much more to his story than mere fertilizer for 'some Southern tree'. Though I'm not sure how much consolation that was to his family.

Boadicea wrote: "I didn’t know this poem of Hardy’s but knew of Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” and can see its similarities.
Indeed, conscription for the Army at this time was notable for a large number of recruits ..."

Churchill must have been fairly young then.

Connie wrote: "There's a sense of a drumbeat with the rhythm and the short rhyming verses.

It's a very sad poem especially because the drummer died so young and so far from home. It shows a quick battlefield bu..."

The even verses are indented in each stanza in the printed version of the poem, which really does seem like a drumbeat.
Good observation, Connie.

I can just imagine the young drummer arriving in South Africa, after a long gruelling voyage, leaving green Dorset behind, seeing the dry dusty plain with unfamiliar stars in the sky.
It must have been a terrible shock.

"Hodge" is a word meaning a farm worker, not a surname. A specific death prompted Hardy to write the poem, but it has a wider meaning encompassing all the young men from the countryside that were sacrificed in the war. They were bravely fighting, but were the least likely to have any financial interest in the mines and other property in South Africa.

Drummers and flag bearers were often teenagers that were very visible targets in battle. They were not using guns because their hands were in use, and it was harder to hide behind rocks and trees. (This brought back memories of reading The Red Badge of Courage, a short novel by Stephen Crane set in the American Civil War. The flag bearer was such a target in that book.)

Connie wrote: "They were bravely fighting, but were the least likely to have any financial interest in the mines and other property in South Africa."

Sadly, that's almost always the case. By the end of the poem, there is no trace left of Drummer Hodge. This could be symbolic of our collective forgetfulness. Not even two decades later, WW1 saw an incredible number of young lives lost.

Connie wrote: ""Hodge" is a word meaning a farm worker, not a surname ..."

Thanks for pointing that out Connie! (It can be either in England, just as Thatcher, Butler, Weaver, Miller and so on.)

But it does make it even more anonymous, so it represents Everyman (or every boy-man.)

That makes it somehow even more sad. So many young men buried in the South African soil.

The concentration camps were responsible for deaths of around 26 000 Boers (including civilians), and as many as 20 000 deaths among the indigenous population.

Rosemarie wrote: "The concentration camps were responsible for deaths of around 26 000 Boers (including civilians), and as many as 20 000 deaths among the indigenous population."

Thank you for the reminder, Rosemarie. The losses on both sides are incredibly sad. Hardy lamented the fact that apparent civilised countries still had to resort to such tactics to settle disputes.

I understand how Hardy felt.

Rosemarie wrote: "I can just imagine the young drummer arriving in South Africa, after a long gruelling voyage, leaving green Dorset behind, seeing the dry dusty plain with unfamiliar stars in the sky.
It must have ..."

Those unfamiliar stars really stand out for me in this poem. Poor Hodge, like so many other English boys, lying uncoffined in an unmarked grave, under a sky where the stars in the heavens above don't even recognize them. The foreign words (kopje-crest, broad Karoo) together with the foreign stars emphasize, for me, that these boys do not belong in this foreign war.

Thank you, Rosemary, for choosing this poem. Its always been a favorite of mine. Thank you also for the glossary, reminding me what the foreign words meant.

I find that sometimes it can be difficult to freshly approach a poem that I've encountered before. I read the poem again first thing this morning, and I was particularly struck by the pathos of the second stanza in particular.

The 'foreign constellations', the 'strange stars' and the 'strange-eyed constellations' are mentioned in every verse. The unfamiliar words describing aspects of the land that would have been new to young Hodge, and words such as 'foreign' and 'unknown', emphasise the youth's bewilderment. By using these carefully chosen words, Hardy has created a mood of unfamiliarity, confusion and possible homesickness.

His death is not described. Was it a quick bullet to the heart, or a slow bleeding out? Did he have time to miss home, or for any further reflection? This poem invites us to speculate. I think poems like these have an important place amongst the literature of war, because without emotion the facts themselves may not be enough. I think Hardy's intention was to inspire emotion even through an unemotional text. And I think he was successful.

Thank you, Bridget. It's always been a favourite of mine as well.

Jane, it's interesting that we gain new perspectives as we a familiar poem at different times.

What I noticed this time was the very beginning:
They throw in Drummer Hodge

Not place, but throw-like rubbish

Who are they?

Rosemarie wrote: "What I noticed this time was the very beginning: They throw in Drummer Hodge. Not place, but throw-like rubbish. Who are they?"

I presume it was Hodge's own side that buried him in such a fashion. There are some horrific Boer War photos online, of mass graves where they were thrown into shallow trenches (more specifically, photos from the Battle of Spion Kop). It's likely they wanted to save time, energy and resources and focus on the matter at hand. I suppose it's something he was buried at all, considering the number of wild animals they have out there.

Hardy regarded Hodge as a pejorative term. He even felt compelled to write an article about it. It begins:

It seldom happens that a nickname which affects to portray a class is honestly indicative of the individuals composing that class. The few features distinguishing them from other bodies of men have been seized on and exaggerated, while the incomparably more numerous features common to all humanity have been ignored.

For those interested, here is the link to the article: https://lifepage.wlu.ca/the-doretshir...

As we continue to discuss this poem and Hodge begins to take on greater form in our conjectures, I feel increasingly saddened that we are only able to refer to the him as Hodge. Though, I think that is the point.

Thanks for the link, Jane.

This is a paragraph from Chapter 18 of Tess of the D'Urbervilles about Angel Clare and the term Hodge as he develops more respect for the farm laborers:

Much to his surprise he took, indeed, a real delight in their companionship. The conventional farm-folk of his imagination—personified in the newspaper-press by the pitiable dummy known as Hodge—were obliterated after a few days’ residence. At close quarters no Hodge was to be seen. At first, it is true, when Clare’s intelligence was fresh from a contrasting society, these friends with whom he now hobnobbed seemed a little strange. Sitting down as a level member of the dairyman’s household seemed at the outset an undignified proceeding. The ideas, the modes, the surroundings, appeared retrogressive and unmeaning. But with living on there, day after day, the acute sojourner became conscious of a new aspect in the spectacle. Without any objective change whatever, variety had taken the place of monotonousness. His host and his host’s household, his men and his maids, as they became intimately known to Clare, began to differentiate themselves as in a chemical process. The thought of Pascal’s was brought home to him: “A mesure qu’on a plus d’esprit, on trouve qu’il y a plus d’hommes originaux. Les gens du commun ne trouvent pas de différence entre les hommes.” The typical and unvarying Hodge ceased to exist. He had been disintegrated into a number of varied fellow-creatures—beings of many minds, beings infinite in difference; some happy, many serene, a few depressed, one here and there bright even to genius, some stupid, others wanton, others austere; some mutely Miltonic, some potentially Cromwellian—into men who had private views of each other, as he had of his friends; who could applaud or condemn each other, amuse or sadden themselves by the contemplation of each other’s foibles or vices; men every one of whom walked in his own individual way the road to dusty death.

Connie wrote: "This is a paragraph from Chapter 18 of Tess of the D'Urbervilles about Angel Clare and the term Hodge as he develops more respect for the farm laborers."

Thanks for posting this in the thread, Connie! It's a lovely passage. Tess of the D'Urbervilles was published 8 years after the above article was written. You have to admire how Hardy kept on trying to tackle these issues.

Thanks for the information about Hodge, Connie and Jane.
It's sad that those who are so important are caracterized that way.

I am very much enjoying your discussion. Thanks to all.

Dorothy wrote: "I am very much enjoying your discussion. Thanks to all."

Thank you!

I too loved the poem and the great discussion about the origins, time, etc. Really fleshes out the story that is told in the poem.

Well remembered, Connie! Thank you 😊

It's amazing how much Hardy has been able to express in such a short poem. Every word matters in this one.

Rosemarie wrote: "It's amazing how much Hardy has been able to express in such a short poem. Every word matters in this one."

We're seeing something new every time we read it. This was a good choice, Rosemarie!

Thank you, Connie. I really appreciate everyone's input!