Untitled [Barcelona]: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 18 December 2017
Untitled [Barcelona]: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 18 December 2017
Untitled [Barcelona]: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 18 December 2017
Koyambedu, Chennai, 2017: photo by Mahesh Balasubramanian, 17 December 2017
Cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 below as some remain on the tracks above today in DuPont, Wash. | Photo @ElaineMThompson: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 19 December 2017
Writing on the wall [eastside, LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 19 December 2017
STUREN . TRACKS: photo by LitterART, 14 December 2017
STUREN . TRACKS: photo by LitterART, 14 December 2017
STUREN . TRACKS: photo by LitterART, 14 December 2017
2017-12-18_06-33-16 [Jakarta]: photo by Chris Tuarissa, 17 December 2017
2017-12-18_06-33-16 [Jakarta]: photo by Chris Tuarissa, 17 December 2017
2017-12-18_06-33-16 [Jakarta]: photo by Chris Tuarissa, 17 December 2017
Untitled [pagan wedding, bologna]: photo by diadà, 15 December 2008
Untitled [pagan wedding, bologna]: photo by diadà, 15 December 2008
Untitled [Sadarghat Boat Terminal, Dhaka]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 8 May 2015
100_0581: photo by Francesco Luppolo, 21 June 2017
100_0581: photo by Francesco Luppolo, 21 June 2017
100_0581: photo by Francesco Luppolo, 21 June 2017
DSC_7117: photo by Ilan Ben yehuda, 12 December 2017
DSC_7117: photo by Ilan Ben yehuda, 12 December 2017
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish child wears U.S. President Donald Trump's mask and costume during the Purim festival in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 12, 2017.: photo by Ariel Schalit/AP, 12 March 2017
100_2858: photo by Francesco Luppolo, 13 December 2017
100_2858: photo by Francesco Luppolo, 13 December 2017
People take part in the Mud Day race, a 13 kilometer obstacle course in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, March 24, 2017.: photo by Oded Balilty/AP, 24 March 2017
Blood stains pews inside the St. George Church after a suicide bombing, in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, Egypt, Sunday, April 9, 2017. Bombs exploded at two Coptic churches in the northern Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria as worshippers were celebrating Palm Sunday, killing over 40 people and wounding scores more in assaults claimed by the Islamic State group.: photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP, 4 July 2017
Untitled [Stockholm]: photo by Dimitris Makrygiannakis, 11 May 2017
Untitled [Stockholm]: photo by Dimitris Makrygiannakis, 11 May 2017
Untitled [Stockholm]: photo by Dimitris Makrygiannakis, 11 May 2017
Intoxicated ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the holiday of Purim in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, Monday, March 13, 2017. Purim celebrates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Scroll of Esther.: photo by Oded Balilty/AP, 13 March 2017
The numerals 1 and 8 arrive in Times Square ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations #gettyimagesnews #2017 #2018 #nyc #newyork city #timessquare #nye #newyearseve: image via Drew Angerer @drewangerer, 13 December 2017
What lurks behind. An oldie but a goodie. [Sydney]: photo by Albion Harrison-Nash, 5 July 2017
File clerks on electric elevator desks, Prague, 1937: photo by Michael Ryerson, 16 December 2017
Untitled [Dhaka]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 30 August 2016
A
Palestinian demonstrator dressed as Santa Claus hurls stones towards
Israeli troops during clashes near the West Bank city of Ramallah Photo
Mohamad Torokman: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 19 December 2017
Spots [Hampden, Baltimore]: photo by Andrew Murr, 18 December 2017
Untitled [Hoes Heights, Baltimore]: photo by Patrick, December 2016
Untitled [Tel Aviv]: photo by Ilan Burla, 17 November 2017
415: photo by Petros Kotzabasis, 14 December 2017
A youth stands on a
rock as waves crash on the Mediterranean Sea shore during cold, stormy
weather in Gaza City, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017.: photo by Adel Hana/AP, 21 November 2017
BXL [Brussels]: photo by Maud Cressely, 25 September 2016
Untitled [Varanasi]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 27 June 2017
IMG_2837: photo by selin1968, 17 September 2017
Untitled [Dhaka Medical College, Bakshibazaar]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 29 January 2015
Keeneland [Lexington]: photo by Joey Harrison, 23 April 2016
the weight of things. los angeles, ca. 2017 | michael heizer's "levitated mass" at the los angeles county museum of art. [Park la Brea, CA]: photo by eyetwist, 19 February 2017
the weight of things. los angeles, ca. 2017 | michael heizer's "levitated mass" at the los angeles county museum of art. [Park la Brea, CA]: photo by eyetwist, 19 February 2017
In this March 13, 2017 photo, people are seen from the window of a metro car, at El Zahraa metro station in Cairo, Egypt. Cairo’s subway is perhaps the cheapest in the world, 11 cents to ride as far as you want across the overcrowded, traffic-choked Egyptian capital -- but even that feels like a burden to many Egyptians at a time of tough economic reforms.: photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP, 13 March 2017
Bucharest 2017: photo by Bojan Nikolic, 13 November 2017
Bucharest 2017: photo by Bojan Nikolic, 13 November 2017
Bucharest 2017: photo by Bojan Nikolic, 13 November 2017
Jerusalem Old City is seen through a door with the shape of star of David, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. U.S. officials say President Donald Trump will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital Wednesday, Dec. 6, and instruct the State Department to begin the multi-year process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. His decision could have deep repercussions across the region.: photo by Oded Balilty/AP, 6 December 2017
Churchill Downs: photo by Joey Harrison, 24 September 2016
Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, Dec.8, 2017.: photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP, 8 December 2017
A girl with a shaved head and her father cry as the family flees the al-Rifai neighborhood while Iraqi special forces battle Islamic State militants in western Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, May 17, 2017.: photo by Maya Alleruzzo/AP, 17 May 2017
Paris 2017: photo by Elie Monferier, 12 November 2017
Zeid Ali, 12, left, and Hodayfa Ali, 11, comfort each other after their house was hit and collapsed during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, June 24, 2017. The Ali cousins said some of their family members are still under the rubble.: photo by Felipe Dana/AP, 24 June 2017
Untitled: photo by Yuro De Iuliis, 3 November 2015
The hill at Magersfontein overlooking the plain where the Battle of Magersfontein (Cape Colony, South Africa) was fought on 11 December 1899; looking south from the Boer position towards the British position in the distance. Remnants of the trenches can still be seen in the veldt. [In the "Black Week" of 10-17 December 1899, the British Army suffered devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg (690 dead), Magersfontein (948) and Colenso (1,138), with a total 2,776 men killed, wounded and captured: photo by RAM, 16 January 2006
An observation balloon being prepared by the British Royal Engineers at the Battle of Magersfontein, with the hills occupied by the Boers in the background, 11 December 1899 : photographer unknown; image by Socrates2008, 11 August 2009; edit by Hohum, 9 November 2010
Explosion of an ammunition wagon during the Battle of Paardeberg, Boer War. [On "Bloody Sunday", 18 February 1900, the first day of the Battle of Paardeburg, British Imperial forces suffered a total 1,100 casualties, with 280 killed -- the worst single day loss of the Second Boer War]: photographer unknown (Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views /Stephen A. Schwarzman Building / Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library)
Canopus, brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina and Argo Navis, and the second brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius. Canopus is about 300 light years from Earth in the southern hemisphere constellation Carina and is a rare class “F” yellow-white (7800 Kelvin) super giant. It is 65 times wider and 15,000 times more luminous than the Sun and is large enough to stretch three-fourths of the way across Mercury’s orbit: photo by astronaut Donald R. Pettit, ISS, March 2003 (NASA)
Cocktails [Green River, UT]: photo by Andrew Murr, 31 May 2017
3797-2: photo by jose gonzalez, 7 November 2017
3797-2: photo by jose gonzalez, 7 November 2017
BXL [Brussels]: photo by Maud Cressely, 25 September 2016
Untitled [Varanasi]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 27 June 2017
IMG_2837: photo by selin1968, 17 September 2017
Untitled [Dhaka Medical College, Bakshibazaar]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 29 January 2015
Keeneland [Lexington]: photo by Joey Harrison, 23 April 2016
the weight of things. los angeles, ca. 2017 | michael heizer's "levitated mass" at the los angeles county museum of art. [Park la Brea, CA]: photo by eyetwist, 19 February 2017
the weight of things. los angeles, ca. 2017 | michael heizer's "levitated mass" at the los angeles county museum of art. [Park la Brea, CA]: photo by eyetwist, 19 February 2017
In this March 13, 2017 photo, people are seen from the window of a metro car, at El Zahraa metro station in Cairo, Egypt. Cairo’s subway is perhaps the cheapest in the world, 11 cents to ride as far as you want across the overcrowded, traffic-choked Egyptian capital -- but even that feels like a burden to many Egyptians at a time of tough economic reforms.: photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP, 13 March 2017
Bucharest 2017: photo by Bojan Nikolic, 13 November 2017
Bucharest 2017: photo by Bojan Nikolic, 13 November 2017
Bucharest 2017: photo by Bojan Nikolic, 13 November 2017
Jerusalem Old City is seen through a door with the shape of star of David, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. U.S. officials say President Donald Trump will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital Wednesday, Dec. 6, and instruct the State Department to begin the multi-year process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. His decision could have deep repercussions across the region.: photo by Oded Balilty/AP, 6 December 2017
Churchill Downs: photo by Joey Harrison, 24 September 2016
Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, Dec.8, 2017.: photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP, 8 December 2017
crosses / marking absences (morning, Munroe Falls Metro Park, Summit County, Ohio): photo by wood_owl, 11 January 2014
A girl with a shaved head and her father cry as the family flees the al-Rifai neighborhood while Iraqi special forces battle Islamic State militants in western Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, May 17, 2017.: photo by Maya Alleruzzo/AP, 17 May 2017
Paris 2017: photo by Elie Monferier, 12 November 2017
His stars eternally
disappearing, learning
they were made
of nothing
but expanding
gas
broke poor old Rousseau
up, and he wasn't even really
all that
old
Zeid Ali, 12, left, and Hodayfa Ali, 11, comfort each other after their house was hit and collapsed during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, June 24, 2017. The Ali cousins said some of their family members are still under the rubble.: photo by Felipe Dana/AP, 24 June 2017
Untitled: photo by Yuro De Iuliis, 3 November 2015
Thomas Hardy: Drummer Hodge
The hill at Magersfontein overlooking the plain where the Battle of Magersfontein (Cape Colony, South Africa) was fought on 11 December 1899; looking south from the Boer position towards the British position in the distance. Remnants of the trenches can still be seen in the veldt. [In the "Black Week" of 10-17 December 1899, the British Army suffered devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg (690 dead), Magersfontein (948) and Colenso (1,138), with a total 2,776 men killed, wounded and captured: photo by RAM, 16 January 2006
I
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined -- just as found:
Uncoffined -- just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest
That breaks the veldt around;
And foreign constellations west
Each night above his mound.
II
Young Hodge the Drummer never knew --
Fresh from his Wessex home --
The meaning of the broad Karoo,
The Bush, the dusty loam,
And why uprose to nightly view
Strange stars amid the gloam.
III
Yet portion of that unknown plain
Will Hodge for ever be;
Will Hodge for ever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellations reign
His stars eternally.
An observation balloon being prepared by the British Royal Engineers at the Battle of Magersfontein, with the hills occupied by the Boers in the background, 11 December 1899 : photographer unknown; image by Socrates2008, 11 August 2009; edit by Hohum, 9 November 2010
The Battlefield of Elangslaagte (Second Boer War), 1899: photographer unknown; image by Socrates2008, 11 August 2009; edit by Vberger, 22 December 2008
This
verse of Hardy's comes out of the Second Boer War. Not for a half
century had Englishmen engaged other white men in mortal combat. The conflict stirred mixed emotions in British hearts. In October
1899, Hardy had ridden his bicycle to Southampton to stand on
the docks and watch the troops departing for South Africa. By the end of November, 60,000 young men had sailed off from Southampton to the distant war.
Hardy's note added to the poem on its first periodical appearance (under the title The Dead Drummer, in the magazine Literature): "One of the Drummers killed was a native of a village near Casterbridge". (He meant, near Dorchester -- i.e., a local lad.)
Cf. Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles:
"The
conventional farm-folk of his imagination -- personified in the
newspaper-press by the pitiable dummy known as Hodge -- were obliterated
after a few days' residence. At close quarters no Hodge was to be
seen... He had been disintegrated into a number of fellow-creatures --
beings of many minds, beings infinite in difference; some happy, some
serene, a few depressed, one here and there bright even to genius, some
stupid, others wanton, others austere; some mutely Miltonic, some
potentially Cromwellian; into men who had private views of each other,
as he had of his friends..."
kopje = small hillock
veldt = grassy plain, savanna
Karoo = high arid plateau in South Africa
Hodge = patronising generic name for rustic labourer
veldt = grassy plain, savanna
Karoo = high arid plateau in South Africa
Hodge = patronising generic name for rustic labourer
Explosion of an ammunition wagon during the Battle of Paardeberg, Boer War. [On "Bloody Sunday", 18 February 1900, the first day of the Battle of Paardeburg, British Imperial forces suffered a total 1,100 casualties, with 280 killed -- the worst single day loss of the Second Boer War]: photographer unknown (Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views /Stephen A. Schwarzman Building / Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library)
Canopus, brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina and Argo Navis, and the second brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius. Canopus is about 300 light years from Earth in the southern hemisphere constellation Carina and is a rare class “F” yellow-white (7800 Kelvin) super giant. It is 65 times wider and 15,000 times more luminous than the Sun and is large enough to stretch three-fourths of the way across Mercury’s orbit: photo by astronaut Donald R. Pettit, ISS, March 2003 (NASA)
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): Drummer Hodge, from Poems of the Past and the Present, 1901
No comments:
Post a Comment