Essay Database

The insignificance of human life compared to the passage of time and continuation of the life cycle are explored in both Thomas Hardy's "Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave" and John Keats "When I Have Fears". Hardy uses the relationships between a dead woman and her family, friends and pet to show this insignificance, while Keats uses the grandiosity of nature. Although the poems use different rhyming techniques, similarities are found in their structures. …

…Keats' "When I Have Fears". I found that the structure (the fact that it was written in the sonnet style), and the rhyming pattern, made it a smoother and easier read. I found Thomas Hardy's "Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?" to be somewhat monotonous. I had a problem with keeping my attention during the poem and felt he could have got his point across in a much shorter or maybe less repetitive way.