Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?

Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?
"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."


This poem, written in the form of a dialogue and first published in the Saturday Review for 27 September 1913, is a good illustration of Hardy's often grim sense of humor, and of his tendency to expose romantic or sentimental illusions about love, life, and death. The satirical dialogue, which was first published in the Saturday Review later appeared in volume form in Satires of Circumstance: Lyrics and Reveries (London: Macmillan, 1914). Checked against The Works of Thomas Hardy (Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth, 1994), pp. 310-11.

This poem dramatizes the conflict between a dead woman and all of the people she imagines, or hopes, that would be digging on her grave, now that she has died. It starts with the woman wondering if her husband is digging near her grave to plant flowers (1&2). She then remembers that just one day ago, her husband married a woman who came from money (3&4). He justifies that his deceased wife won’t be hurt by him having a new lover because his wife is dead (5&6).
The dead woman asks if a close relative is digging on her grave (7&. She pictures her relatives sitting and thinking “There’s no reason to plant flowers or keep up her gravesite because it won’t release her from the gripping finality of death.” (9-12).
The woman proceeds to ask if it is her enemy digging at her grave (13). She thinks that her enemy is just defacing her gravesite to restate her everlasting hatred toward the woman (14). However, she rules that out too, because when she “passed the Gate that shuts on all flesh sooner or later (15&16)”, her enemy decided that the dead woman was no longer worth her hatred, and didn’t even care where she was buried at (17&18).
In line 19, the dead woman finally gives up, and wants to know, since she hasn’t guessed (20). Then, her dog replies to his dear mistress that it is him, her little dog, who still lives nearby (21&22). The dog says that he hopes that his digging hasn’t bothered her (23&24).
The woman finally realizes that it’s her dog, and wonders why she didn’t realize it earlier (25&26). She praises the dog, saying that he was the only one she left behind that stayed true and remembered her (27). She exclaims that there isn’t any other feeling among other humans that are better than the faithfulness of a good dog (28&29).
That turns out to be quite ironic because the dog states that the only reason that he dug on her grave was “To bury a bone, in case [he] should be hungry near this spot when passing on [his] daily trot” (30-33). The dog apologizes because he completely forgot that his mistress was buried there (34&35).


Thomas presents anew aspect of live after ones death. She was not remember anymore even from her husband who was married again. It was ironical poem which was mixture with some dramatic action and this poem showed that dogs still are more faithful than humankind even after death.

In this poem I think Hardy is going to say that the human being will be forgotten as easy as he came to this world there are so much involvement for people that everyone forgets even his most intimate ones.
I feel that it is saying nobody cares about you after you die because it is not the body in the ground that matters but what you did while you were living.

“Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?” was first published in the Saturday Review on September 27, 1913, then in Thomas Hardy’s 1914 collection, Satires of Circumstance: Lyrics and Reveries with Miscellaneous Pieces. The poem reflects Hardy’s interest in death and events beyond everyday reality, but these subjects are presented humorously, with a strong dose of irony and satire. This treatment is somewhat unusual for Hardy, who also produced a number of more serious poems concerning death. In “Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?” a deceased woman carries on a dialogue with an individual who is disturbing her grave site. The identity of this figure, the “digger” of the woman’s grave, is unknown through the first half of the poem. As the woman attempts to guess who the digger is, she reveals her desire to be remembered by various figures she was acquainted with when she was alive. In a series of ironic turns, the responses of the digger show that the woman’s acquaintances—a “loved one,” family relatives, and a despised enemy—have all forsaken her memory. Finally, it is revealed that the digger is the woman’s dog, but the canine, too, is unconcerned with his former mistress and is digging only so it can bury a bone. Though the poem contains a humorous tone, the picture Hardy paints is bleak; the dead are almost completely eliminated from the memory of the living and do not enjoy any form of contentment. This somber outlook is typical of Hardy’s verse, which often presented a skeptical and negative view of the human condition.
Author Biography
Hardy was born in 1840 and raised in the region of Dorsetshire, England, the basis for the Wessex countryside that would later appear in his fiction and poetry. He attended a local school until he was sixteen, when his mother paid a substantial amount of money for him to be apprenticed to an architect in Dorchester. In 1862 he moved to London, where he worked as an architect, remaining there for a period of five years. Between 1865 and 1867 Hardy wrote many poems, none of which were published. In 1867 he returned to Dorchester and, while continuing to work in architecture, began to write novels in his spare time. Hardy became convinced that if he was to make a living writing, he would have to do so as a novelist. Drawing on the way of life he absorbed in Dorsetshire as a youth and the wide range of English writers with which he was familiar, Hardy spent nearly thirty years as a novelist before devoting himself to poetry. In 1874 Hardy married Emma Lavinia Gifford, who would become the subject of many of his poems. They spent several years in happiness until the 1880s, when marital troubles began to shake the closeness of their union.
Hardy’s first book of verse was published in 1898, when he was fifty-eight years old and had achieved a large degree of success as a novelist. Although his verse was not nearly as successful as his novels, Hardy continued to focus on his poetry and published seven more books of verse before his death, developing his confidence and technical competence. With the composition of The Dynasts: A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars (1904-08), an epic historical drama written in verse, Hardy was hailed as a major poet. He was praised as a master of his craft, and his writing was admired for its great emotional force and technical skill. Hardy continued to write until just before his death in 1928. Despite his wish to be buried with his family, influential sentiment for his burial in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey instigated a severe compromise: the removal of his heart, which was buried in Dorchester, and the cremation of his body, which was interred in the Abbey.
Poem 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, 5
‘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? 10
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 15
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!” 20
—“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 … 25
Why flashed it not on me
That one true heart was left behind!
What feeling do we ever find
To equal among human kind
A dog’s fidelity!” 30

“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 35
It was your resting place.”
Poem Summary
Lines 1-2
These first two lines of the poem present a certain mystery to the reader. Who is asking this question? Is it indeed a person in the grave, or is it a person imagining an experience that might happen after they die? This mystery helps to draw the reader into the poem, though we will soon understand that the speaker is indeed a woman who is dead and buried. Hardy will continue to make use of an anonymous voice in the poem, however, when he introduces the second character in the work.
These lines also suggest some underlying elements that can help us to better understand the situation. The reference to the “rue” being planted by the woman’s loved one seems an important detail. The word rue has two essential meanings and both can be applied to the poem. First, rue means sorrow or regret, so the woman might be indicating that her loved one is experiencing these emotions. Initially, the speaker seems to feel that her death has caused sorrow for the loved one and that she remains strong in his memory. In this sense, he would be “planting rue” by mourning her death. In the following lines, however, we learn he is not full of sorrow, so if she has this idea, it proves to be a mistake. Rue is also the name of a shrub having bitter, strongly scented leaves. This definition of rue seems to hint at the true nature of the relationship between the woman and the loved one. The bitter plant contrasts with the beautiful flowers that are often placed on graves, and this contrast becomes stronger when we remember that flowers are a traditional symbol of love and purity. In other words, the speaker doesn’t imagine the man offering a remembrance of beauty and affection, just one of bitterness.
Lines 3-4
In these lines, the speaker’s first question is answered by the “digger” of her grave, though the digger’s identity is unknown at this point in the poem. The anonymous speaker becomes an important factor in the poem, urging the reader to push on and discover who is talking to the woman. What’s made clear in this first stanza is that this voice does not belong to the loved one that the woman thought she was addressing. This is indicated by the use of the third-person “he” to refer to the man. The voice explains that the woman’s loved one—perhaps a husband or lover—has married another woman. What’s more, he has married a very wealthy mate and appears to be doing quite well …
Ah, you dug on my grave.
Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Brock Hampton, England on June 2, 1840, in a seven-room cottage. He was the eldest of his siblings, one brother and two sisters. His father was also named Thomas Hardy and he was a master-mason and a builder. His mother Jemina was a cook, an energetic woman who loved reading. At the age of eight Thomas began his schooling in Brock Hampton. He was a quick learner and transferred to a Non Conformist Latin School. At sixteen he was apprenticed too the architect John Hicks. Around that time he started writing verses. He quit his apprenticeship at the age of twenty one (Angyal 1385-1397).
In the spring of 1862, Hardy arrived in London where he was looking too continue his architectural studies; instead he found part time work with John Blomfield, a friend of his teacher, Hicks. Later on his confinement to London life was eating away at his health. The doctor had hardy sent back to Bock Hampton to recuperate. In the time he spent recuperating he worked on his first book. In 1870 he finished his first book, The Poor Man and the Lady. He sent it too a London publisher but was rejected. Soon he finished his second novel Desperate Remedies which was also rejected. He wrote five more novels and short stories, adding too his reputation as a major writer. During that the time of his life after having wrote the some of his last novels Thomas Hardy released a lot of poetic material, one of which is Ah, are you digging on my grave?. Hardy fell ill with pleurisy in December 1927 and died in Dorchester, England on January the 11th, 1928 (Duane 6-11).
Hardy published poetry until his death in 1928. His poetry ranged from the topics of love and life to death, and even to questions about moral standards. The poem, Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave? emphasizes life and death with humor and irony. In Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave? Thomas Hardy uses shifting tones to lessen the seriousness of the conversation between "a digger" and a "dead woman."
In the introductory verse the deceased shows a curious tone. The dead woman asks "Are you digging on my grave?" Her question shows a demonstration of the deceased still clinging on to life. The "digger" provides a partial answer, "No: yesterday he went to wed...'It cannot hurt her now'..." The partial answer suggests that the deceased has been forgotten. "Though the poem contains a humorous tone, the picture Hardy paints is bleak; the dead are almost completely eliminated from the memory of the living and do not enjoy any form of contentment" (Gale 1 of 4). The continuing questions posed by the deceased demonstrate her discontent.
The dead speaker shifts in the second verse from a curious tone to a concerned tone in her question. The "dead speaker" asks "then who is digging on my grave, my nearest dearest kin?" Once again the "dead speaker" clings on to a life that has ended. The "digger" again leaves her with an incomplete answer, "Ah, no: they sit and think, 'what use! What good will planting flowers produce?" Again demonstrating that the living continue to live onward, leaving the "dead speaker" asking another question in the following verse.
In the third verse the deceased shifts again this time from a concerned tone to a frustrated one. In lines 13-14 the "dead speaker" says "But someone digs upon my grave? My enemy? – prodding sly?" The "dead speaker" shows frustration. "The speaker is more hesitant, as if she doubts herself" (Gale 3 of 4). The "dead speaker" hangs on to life, showing a concern in whether or not the "dead speaker" is remembered. In lines 15 & 17, the "digger" gives another partial answer to the question in lines 13-14 saying, "Nay: when she heard you had passed the Gate...she thought you no more worth her hate." Once again, the dead speaker shows that the living continue to live. "Here, the unknown voice presents one of the most direct, and most chilling, statements of the poem's central idea: the deceased woman has been forgotten by the living and does not concern them at all" (Gale 3 of 4).
In verse four, the dead speaker resorts to a desperate tone. The deceased shows desperation in lines 19-20 she says "Then, who is digging on my grave? Say – since I have not guessed!" The desperate tone shows that although deceased, her concern for the living still caring for her strengthens as time goes by. "As the woman attempts to guess who the digger is, she reveals her desire to be remembered by various figures she was acquainted with when she was alive" (Gale 1 of 4). The "digger" finally reveals himself as the "dead speaker's", still quite alive, "little dog". The "little dog" answers her in lines 21-24. "O it is I, my mistress dear..."
Subsequently in the fifth verse the deceased woman demonstrates relief in line 25. She says "Ah, yes! You dig upon my grave..." In line 26 the "dead speaker" says "Why flashed it not on me." This relief in words like 'ah' and the sentence 'Why flashed it not on me." She was so concerned in the first four verses to finally be answered in the second half of the fourth verse and has been relieved by knowing who is digging. She compliments her relieved response by speaking about the "little dog" in lines 27-30. In those lines "That one true heart has left behind! What feeling do we ever find to equal among human kind A dogs fidelity!" she shows huge interest in the living and by clinging to it proves that she doesn't want to be forgotten.
In the final verse the "little doggy" reveals an ironic and humorous tone. In the lines 31-34 hardy says uses the dog's bone to implement that the bone is more important then his mistress. He does that to add humor the serious topic. The burying of the bone on accident over her grave shows that if even a dog forgets then that mean absolutely no one has importance for her after she has passed away. So there would be no need to remember her, but if she is remembered like in verses 1-3, they have other things to do not just morn for her for the rest of there lives. The irony is that even when at one point the deceased thought she was remembered by her "little doggy", the deceased was forgotten by everyone she once knew.
Thomas Hardy used shifting tones to seamlessly integrate humor, irony, and the topic of life and death and still manages to explain that "The living continue to live while the dead are forgotten." This poem is enjoyable, and can easily reach the hearts of its readers, using satire and its strong point of view.
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