1. Thomas Hardy By: Brittany Frank and Daisy McGuigan http://public.gettysburg.edu/academics/english/hardy/Tho masHardy.jpg

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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 20 th century

5. 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 http://images.jupiterimages.com/comm on/detail/03/53/23315303.jpg

6. 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 http://www.informatik.uni- hamburg.de/~zierke/trevor.lucas/images/larg erec/farfromthemaddingcrowd_emi20018.jp g

7. Thomas’s Works 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) 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

8. “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. "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."

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Work Cited “Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?” Online Literature. 7 Feb. 2008. Classic Lit. 13 Feb. 2008. Poets’ Corner. 13 Feb. 2008. “Thomas Hardy.” E Notes. 7 Feb. 2008.