Analysing ideas of war and inevitability in Hardy’s ‘Drummer Hodge’

Potentially, Hardy’s use of “they” could represent how war dehumanises people. Arguably, the use of plosive consonants may depict the brutality of war. The imagery of stars and regular rhyme may represent the inevitability of death in war. Potentially, Hardy’s depiction of Drummer Hodge’s body becoming part of the land may relate to ideas of colonialism. We might interpret ‘Drummer Hodge’ as a criticism of how colonialism comes at the cost of young men’s lives.