“They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest/ Uncoffined – just as found:”
Hodge has obviously died (How? We do not know), but has not been treated with much respect. None of the funeral traditions are observed: Hodge is “thrown” into a pit “just as found” and presumably without a service. The poem therefore begins ambiguously. “They” could refer to either friend or foe. Yet their identity is not as important as their attitude to their discovery – Hodge is used by Hardy as a representative of the thousands of casualties of the war, just one more unremarkable victim. Yet the almost cruel use of ‘throw’ adds poignancy to the scene, along with the enjambment which emphasizes “to rest/ Uncoffined”.
Perhaps the lack of mourning also contrasts with the traditional glorification of the war dead?
[Note how Hardy initially creates the scene which would, presumably, be used in a directly anti-war poem. This is not what he does, though. Rather than going on to emphasize the cruelty in ‘Their’ treatment of Hodge, Hardy adopts a tangential attitude towards Hodge. Hardy never informs us of how, why or when Hodge died – although he may have suffered. Hardy’s objective in this poem is quite different.]
“His landmark is a kopje-crest/ That breaks the veldt around;”
Note Hardy’s use of the South African terms, and of third person narrative. Both of these techniques increase a sense of distance. Also note the following:
“And foreign constellations west/ Each night above his mound.”
Star imagery is used anaphronically last two lines of each stanza – this being the introduction. Note use of ‘west’. Is it a verb – ie; throughout the night, the stars appear to move in a westerly direction. Equally, it has been argued that the poem takes a balladic form. However, observe the polysyndeton, which increases the length of each stanza and such a conclusion seems less appealing. A ballad should be made up of quatrains (and probably tell a story!). In any case, Hardy does use a Ballad-esque form.
Second Stanza Notes:
“Young Hodge the Drummer never knew –/
Fresh from his Wessex home –/
The meaning of the broad Karoo,/
The Bush, the dusty loam,/
There is some mortal irony that Hodge gave his life for a country and cause of which he was largely ignorant. Hardy here makes constant reference to Hodge's lack of knowledge - the name Hodge is synonymous with country yokels. The boy, with his youth emphasized by the placement of the word ‘young’ at the start of the stanza, was from Wessex – not South Africa. Drummers were of the lowest rank. It is therefore unlikely that he was at all familiar with his surroundings or role in the Army. Therefore, while alive, Hodge never felt comfortable with the new and unfamiliar night sky, or had the time to learn the names of his new surroundings, yet this alien landscape becomes his permanent home.
Hardy accentuates this tragic ignorance by using all of the South African terms. Indeed, they are so specialist that the reader would not recognise them all instantaneously. This allows a degree of empathy to be accessed. Hardy makes us feel the same as Hodge did!
At this point, therefore, our impression of the poem is a largely negative one – it’s a depressing fact that a young lad goes out and dies in some foreign land. Except that Hardy is not seeking to examine the loss in relationship/physical life. It is about distance! As you will see...
Third Stanza Notes:
“Yet portion of that unknown plain/ Will Hodge for ever be;”
Hardy, once again, reaches the crux of his poem in the final stanza. Hodge’s body has become part of South Africa – again, perhaps there is an odd form of irony in this. It will fertilize the soil over which he fought (the body, remember, is unconfined and therefore sits in direct contact with the ground) and it has become his home – the line “Grown to some Southern tree,” emphasizes this fact.
Hardy goes on to expand this idea. The line “his homely Northern breast and brain” suggests Hodge was a simple, unpretentious sort, but a valuable human nonetheless – at no time more so than in mortu, as he has become part of South Africa. In an odd way, Hodge becomes part of something far greater when dead that he ever achieves whilst living. The poem is an existentialist paradox - Hodge was an unimportant figure in a major war, but becomes a vital part of something that will last far longer than any human conflict.
On another point, note the juxtaposition of ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ in this stanza. Hardy invites a final sense of comparison, whilst also creating a unity in terms of meaning. This final sense of home, which contrasts with the initial sense of rejection, is shared in the final lines of ‘star imagery’.
“And strange-eyed constellations reign/ His stars eternally.”
There is a deep sense of belonging and protection suggested in the poem’s final lines; “strange-eyed” reinforces this; i.e; the stars watch his mound reverentially, however foreign they may seem. Indeed, the ‘royal’ or perhaps ‘deified’ nature of the constellations allows this to become a very powerful image, further aided by the use of enjambment. Hardy ends his poem by turning such a grand image back to Hodge. They are his stars eternally – Hodge will never be a hero among men, but he is elevated to a divine level through the Southern landscape that harbours him as something precious. The use of “eternally” is a grand sweep of time upon which to conclude and, in my opinion, a fitting one too.
