The poem under analysis is called Ah, Are you Digging on My Grace? and it is written by the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy. There are two main speakers in the poem, although other characters were referred to as well. The first main speaker is a deceased woman, who is trying to identify the visitor of her grave. The second main speaker is her living feline companion, which responds to her questions. The dog quotes other characters whom presence is questioned by the woman. The referred-to characters are her lover, family members, and enemy. The poem is essentially a dialog between the woman and her dog. She is astounded to sense that someone is “digging” on her grave, and is disappointed every time she provides an anxious guess. The woman’s first guess is her lover, and asks if he is planting rue on her grave. Her feline companion (who she does not know is talking to her) informs her of her lover’s marriage to a wealthy woman, which she presumably cannot be hurt by anymore considering her death. She guesses again, and it lands on “kin”, who is a family member. She is notified by the dog of their acknowledgment that mourning will not be of benefit as she will not come back to life. The woman gives a final guess, and asks if it is her enemy. She learns the opposite, that her enemy has concluded the woman’s unworthiness after death. Desperately, she asks once more; and her dog, who is concerned of being bothersome, finally announces his identity. The woman appreciates her dog’s devotion and loyally, which she later learns is not so. Her grave became a random spot for the dog to burry its bone in. The poem’s time elapse is based on the start and end of a brief dialog between the woman and the dog. Presumably, it is set in a graveyard, o...
... middle of paper ...
...g (it will continue to live on).
Together, is seems as if tension dominates resolution. Resolution can be established at a minor degree, but tension and opposition of ideas plays an initial and grand role in the entertainment of the poem.
Works Cited
Clarke, R. (n.d.). The Poetry of Thomas Hardy. rlwclarke. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from http://www.rlwclarke.net/Courses/LITS2002/2008-2009/12AHardy'sPoetry.pdf
Find Your Creative Muse. (n.d.). Find Your Creative Muse. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://davehood59.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/what-is-the-importance-of-setting/
Poems for Tragedy and Grief. (n.d.). Poets.org. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5886
Why Are Rhythm & Rhyme Important in Poems?. (n.d.). The Classroom. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://classroom.synonym.com/rhythm-rhyme-important-poems-1921.html
With an evident attempt at objectivity, the syntax of Passage 1 relies almost entirely on sentences of medium length, uses a few long sentences for balance, and concludes with a strong telegraphic sentence. The varying sentence length helps keep the readers engaged, while also ensuring that the writing remains succinct and informative. Like the varying sentence length, the sentence structures vary as complex sentences are offset by a few scattered simple sentences. The complex sentences provide the necessary description, and the simple sentences keep the writing easy to follow. Conversely, Passage 2 contains mostly long, flowing sentences, broken up by a single eight word sentence in the middle. This short sentence, juxtaposed against the length of the preceding and following sentences, provides a needed break in the text, but also bridges the ideas of the two sentences it falls between. The author employs the long sentences to develop his ideas and descriptions to the fullest extent, filling the sentences with literary elements and images. Coupled...
During the awkward reunion, the speaker fights an internal battle with her feelings. There is something inside of her trying to claw its way out, and the bottled up bitterness threatens to rip its way to the surface. Her suppressed emotions are personified in the form of a disobedient female dog, hence the name “Bitch”. When the woman is approached by the man, she refers to herself as a canine by saying things like “don’t start growling” (2). The command demonstrates the speaker attempting to restrain her feelings like trying to constrain a belligerent dog. She feigns a cool demeanor, and as her voice is saying one thing, the voice inside her is getting furious and yearns to express her true feelings, but fears her stability will be questioned.
While the poem's situation is simple, its theme is not. Stafford appears to be intimating that life is precious and fragile; however, nothing so clearly discloses these attributes of life as confrontation with death. Furthermore, the very confrontations that engender appreciation of life's delicacies force action-all to frequently callous action.
The first three stanzas of the poem focus on the content of the relationship and we see the content of it. However, there is a change. The sixth and seventh stanzas describe an event and its consequences.
The heart wrenching film Amazing Grace made its debut in September of 2006. The film was written by Steven Knight and brought to life by director Michael Apted. Focusing on the life of parliament member and antislavery activist William Wilberforce, Amazing Grace tells the story of Wilberforce’s twenty-year battle to put an end to the British Slave Trade. The film is set between 1780 and the early 1800’s during which time Wilberforce is actively involved with the movement to abolish slavery. William Wilberforce’s crusade was inspired by friend and mentor, John Newton a remorseful formal slave ship captain who became a preacher. His mentor also led him to find his conversion to evangelical Christianity. His friend William “Billy”
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
When Death stops for the speaker, he reins a horse-drawn carriage as they ride to her grave. This carriage symbolizes a hearse of which carries her coffin to her grave a day or two after her death. As they ride, they pass, “the School… / the Fields of Gazing Grain— / [and] the Setting Sun—” (lines 9-12). These three symbolize the speakers life, from childhood in the playgrounds, to labor in the fields, and finally to the setting sun of her life. When the speaker and Death arrive at the house, it is night.
“Golden Retrievals” also can be seen as golden retriever, which is most likely the breed of the speaker; asks the reader to live life in the moment. Doty describes through images, slant rhymes, rhythm, and organization to enforce the tension of the poem between the speaker and the human. The tension of the poem lies in the merry tone of the personified dog, which lightens the morbid context, but it’s also seriously discusses grief through the humans sentimental
What began as a simple everyday conversation finished as a didactic and somewhat emotional poem. Wordsworth, through a real life conversation, presents "the obscurity and perplexity which in childhood attend our notion of death, or rather our inability to admit that notion'" (Noyes 60). In direct contrast to Wordsworth, who did not intend to writie a deep, meaningful poem, Hardy knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish by writing, "Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave." People too easily remove the dead from their memories, and Hardy wanted to admonish his readers of the importance of remembering the dead; just because the dead are gone, they should not be forgotten.
Time is equated with constant decay throughout the entire poem, which is primarily shown in the speaker’s comparison of the concept of eternity to a desert. Love, and other concepts felt in life, are subject to this negative force of deconstruction over time, and are vanquished in death; this idea can be seen in the witty commentary at the end of the second stanza, “the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace”
Responses to Amazing Grace Amazing Grace is a legendary song” published in 1779”(www.princeton.edu/-achaney/tmve/wiki100/docs/Amazing-Grace.html) that is also a poem where there are verses in this poem that suggest that the composer John Newton (1725-1807) was going through a pivotal point in his life and he felt that by writing these harmonic verses in rhythmic metaphors could captivate and inspire not only those that read “Amazing Grace” but especially everyone that listened to its meaning. Conviction can come at a time when it seems you are most likely going to die from an act of God, and all the wrong that someone has done becomes a consciously enormous burden when they start to consider what the after life may have as punishment or reward. There are many different responses to this poem. Most of the responses are positive, but when you look at the author John Newton’s life you will start begin to understand the gist of what he is saying and the meaning behind them.
Hardy creates an environment of rough landscape with phrases like “Three miles of irregular upland…” (760), thus creating a feeling of insecurity. Hardy also represents it in “…some starved fragment of ancient hedge is usually taken advantage of the erection of these forlorn dwellings” (760). In addition, we see the forming of an environment of danger, like in the passage where it says “…straightway several of the party fell into the snare set by Nature for all misguided midnight ramblers over this part of the cretaceous formation…flint slopes, which belted the escarpment…losing their footing on the rubbly steep they slid sharply downwards…” (771). Therefore, giving a mood of mystery and of tension.
The Themes of Loss and Loneliness in Hardy's Poetry Introduction = == == == ==
The speaker discusses her trip with death in a very calm manner. The speaker describes how “death” drove the carriage, which was very slowly, as if he was in no hurry to get him, the speaker, and “immortality” to their destination (line 5). One could assume that the speaker’s death experience was not quick and abrupt, but slow and prolonged. The poem progresses and the different places that the carriage passes by are pointed out by the speaker as well. Instead of dark and dreary imagery, the speaker points out kids playing on a playground, a wide field of unpicked crops, and an orange sunset passing her, “death” and immortality by (lines 9-12). These visuals are very serene, like something you would see on a regular, ordinary day. This part of the poem expresses the journey the speaker has as she ventures to her afterlife. The speaker’s trek into the afterlife has somewhat of a reminiscing feeling to it; she lived a plain, but good life, and now it’s about to come to an end. Towards the very end of the poem, the speaker recalls the carriage stopping in front of her “house,” which is a swelling under the ground (lines 17-18). The lump in the ground is the speaker’s casket, but she does not refer to it as that, but her home. The speaker has come to the realization that she will be here for all of “eternity” and is accepting of that (line 24). However, the symbols portrayed throughout the
In this poem, Hardy gave the speaker a unique point of view that is not often seen in writing. To elaborate, by choosing to make the speaker deceased, Hardy allows the reader to experience the story from the perspective of a character that is buried underground. In particular, numerous times throughout the poem, the speaker asks, “who is digging on my grave?” (Hardy 19). By including this in his poem, Hardy is confirming that the speaker is indeed dead. This strange perspective sets up the poem to allow the message to be conveyed, as the theme would have to be different if the speaker was alive. This also helps to build suspense because both the reader and the speaker are unable to discern what is happening above ground. As can be seen, the peculiar yet effective perspective from Hardy supports the theme by allowing the reader to understand how the theme can be conveyed.