Transcript Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy
http://public.gettysburg.edu/academics/english/hardy/Tho
masHardy.jpg
By: Brittany Frank and Daisy
McGuigan
Biography
• Was born on June 2, 1840 in Dorset, England
and died on January 11, 1928
• Hardy's mother, provided for his education.
• Hardy was apprenticed to an architect. He
worked in an office, which specialized in
restoration of churches.
• In 1874 Hardy married Emma Lavinia Gifford.
Who then died in 1912
• In 1914 he married his secretary, Florence Emily
Dugdale.
Biography Part 2
• Wrote about his imaginary Wessex, but he
also stirred up controversy with "Tess of
the D'Urbervilles" and "Jude the Obscure."
• After the uproar over these novels, Hardy
said he would never write another novel.
http://www.dorsetforyou.com/media/images/hardyscottagelarge7.jpg
Occupation
• Thomas Hardy was an English novelist,
short story writer, and poet.
• He was a Victorian Poet
• He used his writings to elaborate his own
pessimistic view of life
• His poetry marks the transition from the
Victorian Age to the modernist movement
of the 20th century
Literary Style
• The use of irony
– The use of words to
convey a meaning that
is opposite of its literal
meaning.
• Uses first person in
“Ah, Are You Digging
on My Grave?”
– Uses a narrator to tell
the poem
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Achievements
• First success was Far
From the Madding
Crowd, published in
1874.
• Many of his stories
have been filmed.
• He has been
regarded as a
regional novelist
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Thomas’s Works
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Novels
Desperate Remedies (1871)
Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)
A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)
Far From the Madding Crowd
(1874)
The Hand of Ethelberta (1876)
The Return of the Native (1878)
The Trumpet-Major (1880)
A Laodicean (1881)
Two on a Tower (1882)
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
The Woodlanders (1887)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)
Jude the Obscure (1895)
The Well-Beloved (1897)
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Short stories
Barbara of the House of Grebe (1890)
The Vampirine Fair (1909)
Absent-mindedness in a Parish Choir
The Duke's Reappearance
The Return of the Native (excerpt)
Squire Petrick's Lady
Tony Kytes, the Arch-Deceiver
The Withered Arm
“Ah, Are You Digging On My
Grave?” Pg. 780 in text
•
"Ah, are you digging on my grave,
My loved one? -- planting rue?"
-- "No: yesterday he went to wed
One of the brightest wealth has bred.
'It cannot hurt her now,' he said,
'That I should not be true.'"
"Then who is digging on my grave,
My nearest dearest kin?"
-- "Ah, no: they sit and think, 'What
use!
What good will planting flowers
produce?
No tendance of her mound can loose
Her spirit from Death's gin.'"
"But someone digs upon my grave?
My enemy? -- prodding sly?"
-- "Nay: when she heard you had
passed the Gate
That shuts on all flesh soon or late,
She thought you no more worth her
hate,
And cares not where you lie.
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"Then, who is digging on my grave?
Say -- since I have not guessed!"
-- "O it is I, my mistress dear,
Your little dog , who still lives near,
And much I hope my movements here
Have not disturbed your rest?"
"Ah yes! You dig upon my grave...
Why flashed it not to me
That one true heart was left behind!
What feeling do we ever find
To equal among human kind
A dog's fidelity!"
"Mistress, I dug upon your grave
To bury a bone, in case
I should be hungry near this spot
When passing on my daily trot.
I am sorry, but I quite forgot
It was your resting place."
Summary of: “Ah, Are You Digging
On My Grave?”
• The narrator, who is
in her grave, thinks
her loved one is
planting “rue”( a wild
flower; also means
regret and sorrow) on
her grave. But he is
really getting married
to a wealthy women.
• Then the narrator
thinks her dearest kin
is digging on her
grave. She says her
friends are sitting
around saying what
will planting plants on
her grave do.
Summary
• Now the narrator
thinks its her enemy.
But she realizes her
hate isn’t worth
anything because
she’s dead.
• The narrator wants to
know who is digging
on her grave since all
her other guesses
where incorrect. The
dog tells her it is him
and he hopes he
didn’t disturb her.
Summary
• She says there is one
person that she left
behind that truly loved
her and that was her
dog.
• Now the dog is telling
his owner, who is in
the grave, that he did
not realize it was her
grave that he was
digging upon. He was
just trying to burry his
bone.
http://www.sedgwick.org/na/families/robert1613/4/1/1/3/4113S-king-sally-grave.jpg
Poetic Structure
• Rhythmic scheme – ABCCDB
• Tone – humorous and ironic
• Pun – rue meaning a wild flower or regret
or sorrow.
• Personification – “Death’s gin” meaning
death’s trap. Death is a non-human thing
so it cannot physically trap something.
Things to Know:
• The three people the speaker thinks are digging on her
grave are her husband, the dearest kin, and enemy
• Her dog was digging on the grave
• The dog was trying to burry his bone
• Victorian poet
• Rue is a wild flower and also means regret and sorrow
• Born in England
• Tone of the poem is humorous and ironic
• Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is
opposite of its literal meaning.
Work Cited
“Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?” Online
Literature. 7 Feb. 2008 <http://www.onlineliterature.com/hardy/909/>.
• Classic Lit. 13 Feb. 2008
<http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profileswriters/p/a
a_thardy.htm>.
• Poets’ Corner. 13 Feb. 2008
<http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/hardy01.h
tml>.
• “Thomas Hardy.” E Notes. 7 Feb. 2008
<http://http://www.enotes.com/authors/thomashardy>.
Quiz
Who does the speaker thing are the three people digging on her grave?
1. _____________
2. _____________
3. _____________
4. Who is actually digging on the grave? __________
5. What reason does the digger give for disturbing the grave?
__________________________________________
6. What kind of poet was he? _________
7. _____ is a name of a wild flower and also mean regret or sorrow
Quiz
• 8. In what country was Thomas Hardy
born?________________________
• 9.Humerous and ironic are the _______ of
the poem.
• 10.What is the use of words to convey a
meaning that is opposite of its literal
meaning? ________________