Drummer Hodge
Thomas Hardy
1840 to 1928
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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The Bush, the dusty loam,
His homely Northern breast and brain
Will Hodge for ever be;
Young Hodge the drummer never knew --
His landmark is a kopje-crest
Uncoffined -- just as found:
Strange stars amid the gloam.
His stars eternally.
And strange-eyed constellations reign
Each night above his mound.
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
And foreign constellations west
The meaning of the broad Karoo,
Yet portion of that unknown plain
And why uprose to nightly view
Grow to some Southern tree,
Fresh from his Wessex home --
That breaks the veldt around: