Write a comparison of the ways the writers (Hardy and Graves) describe the death of a soldier - Say how far you agree with the views that Drummer Hodge is presented in a romantic, idealised way, and that Graves' German soldier is presented with stark-real

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Payal Patel                 F-Code

English Literature

(June 2002 Exam Question)

Write a comparison of the ways the writers describe the death of a soldier.

Say how far you agree with the views that Drummer Hodge is presented in a romantic, idealised way, and that Graves’ German soldier is presented with stark-realism.

Hardy wrote ‘Drummer Hodge’ as a poem depicting the way in which a young drummer boy from Dorset dies and is then buried without ceremony, on the South African plain, during the War. Unfortunately for the young child, and tragically, he died for reasons he wasn’t aware of and for matters he probably didn’t understand.

Similarly, Graves’ poem, ‘A Dead Boche’ also concentrates on the theme of the War, however his poetry reflects and is written from his own personal experience of the war.

Hardy writes about the ‘Young Hodge’ with a great amount of emphasis and expression. By doing this, Hardy makes his readers even more sympathetic with the young drummers tragic fate, ‘They throw in…’. Similarly Graves too emphasises’ his words with a sense of anger as well as passion. Graves’ unlike Hardy looks at a broader view of war and its devastating effects on people, ‘Dribbling black blood from nose and beard’. Both writers use alliteration within their writing and the usage adds extra effect when the poem is read. In Drummer Hodge, the first line contains an example of alliteration, ‘They throw…’ and this highlights the anonymity of the gesture of burial, we ask ourselves the question who are ‘they’ that Hardy refers to here. Similarly Graves also uses alliteration in his poetry again to emphasise the effect of his words used. For example ‘Big-bellied’. When reading this in the context of the poem, we can almost picture the image that Graves is trying to convey through his words, an image of a soldier with a big belly.

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The opening lines of a poem are critical and set the ‘scene’ of the poem.  Hardy’s opening line of the ‘Drummer Hodge’ makes it sound impersonal and anonymous. The use of the word ‘throw’ sounds as if the boy’s body was treated very harshly and that the soldier’s didn’t have any value for his life. A coffin should be lowered, whereas it is rubbish that needs be thrown. The ending of this first line is contrasting to the beginning and comes unexpectedly, ‘to rest’ is a juxtaposition of the word ‘throw’ and doesn’t quite fit into the word syntax.

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