An Analysis of the Structure in Thomas Hardy 's Poem
Structure, which can be defined as “to construct or arrange according to a plan; give a pattern or organization to.” You can see structure everywhere, in our homes, work, and especially school. As stated in the definition of structure, it is all constructed with a plan in mind. There is structure at school and the way we are taught. There are specific structures that all schools and instructors must follow. Especially, in the literary sense at school. Most authors incorporate this into their work, as it make it more efficient for achieving their goal. Not only do authors become known for the messages they convey through their work, but also the structure they use in their …show more content…
The first four stanzas are almost identical in the way they are formed. They all have six lines and have a certain sense of rhythm that comes along with it. The first four stanzas begin with a six word line, followed in a line break that consists of another four words. The next line begins with a dash and after the first word, there is a colon. “Ah, are you diggin 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.” (Lines 1-6) Obviously, Hardy wrote this with much intention, as it is not just a simple stanza, it includes a lot of punctuation, adding to the effect. Just looking at this poem, one can tell Hardy definitely had an idea in mind when writing his stanzas like this. Using reparative structure like this helps to make the poem more enticing, as it adds to the tension of the story with the line breaks and dashes. It is obvious that Thomas Hardy had a goal he wanted to achieve and therefore, wrote his stanzas with this structure. Evidently, Thomas Hardy wrote “Ah, Are You Diggin on My Grave” with structure because you can see it in the way he formed his stanzas in the