Analysis of Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
"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.
"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."
Scheme | abcccb Adeeed afgggf Ahiixh ajkkkj almmml |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111 111101 1101111 11010111 11010111 111111 11110111 110101 11110111 111101001 1110111 010111 1110111 1100101 111111101 11111111 11111101 011111 11110111 111111 11111101 11011111 01111101 110111 11110111 111111 11111101 11011101 11001101 010100 10110111 1100101 11110111 11011101 111011101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,306 |
Words | 245 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 145 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 1,073 Views
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"Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36323/ah%2C-are-you-digging-on-my-grave%3F>.
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