The Dead Drummer
THEY throw in Drummer Hodge, to restUncoffined—just as found:His landmark is a kopje-crestThat breaks the veldt around;And foreign constellations westEach night above his mound.
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 viewStrange stars amid the gloam.
Yet portion of that unknown plainWill Hodge for ever be;His homely Northern breast and brainGrow up a Southern tree.And strange-eyed constellations reignHis stars eternally.
Words in this poem
- drummer n.
- One whose office is to best the drum, as in military exercises and marching.
- veldt n.
- A region or tract of land; esp., the open field; grass country.
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- gloam v. i.
- To begin to grow dark; to grow dusky. [See Gloom, Glum.]
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
- eternally adv.
- In an eternal manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dead Drummer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of the Past and the Present, Project Gutenberg ebook #3168; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, The Dead Drummer, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/the-dead-drummer.html, id L19079.
Form and metre
The Dead Drummer is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 37% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABAB restA · foundB · crestA · aroundB · westA · moundB
- 2 ABABAB knewA · homeB · karooA · loamB · viewA · gloamB
- 3 ABABA- plainA · beB · brainA · treeB · reignA · eternally
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THEY throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Uncoffined—just as found: | 6 | ······ |
| His landmark is a kopje-crest | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| That breaks the veldt around; | 6 | ······ |
| And foreign constellations west | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Each night above his mound. | 6 | ······ |
| Young Hodge the Drummer never knew— | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Fresh from his Wessex home— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The meaning of the broad Karoo, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Bush, the dusty loam, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And why uprose to nightly view | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Strange stars amid the gloam. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Yet portion of that unknown plain | 8 | ·/˘··˘/· |
| Will Hodge for ever be; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His homely Northern breast and brain | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Grow up a Southern tree. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And strange-eyed constellations reign | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| His stars eternally. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.