10.3: Drummer Hodge

English Literature - Victorians and Moderns · LibreTexts

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    Thomas Hardy

    I

    They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
    Uncoffined – just as found:
    His landmark is a kopje-crest[1]
    That breaks the veldt[2] around;
    And foreign constellations west
    Each night above his mound.

    II

    Young Hodge the Drummer never knew –
    Fresh from his Wessex home –
    The meaning of the broad Karoo[3],
    The Bush, the dusty loam,
    And why uprose to nightly view
    Strange stars amid the gloam.

    III

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

    — 1901

    Contributors

    • Template:ContribSexton
    1. Afrikaans for "small hill." ↵
    2. South African grassland. ↵
    3. Semi-desert region of South Africa. ↵

    This page titled 10.3: Drummer Hodge was last modified on Mon, 18 May 2020 05:52:16 GMT and is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by James Sexton via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.