"Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave," by Thomas Hardy: A Pessimistic Vision as One of the Characteristics of Modernism

Abstract

This chapter highlights pessimism as one of the features of modernism. The study showed how Thomas Hardy’s poem “Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?” reflects his pessimistic experiences in this poem. The objective of the study is to highlight the feature of pessimistic as one of the features of modernism. Descriptive and Analytical methods are used to describe how the vision of pessimism is dominating this poem. The study concludes that not pessimism is the only feature reflected in this poem but also selfishness it is known that birth and death are the paths of life and no one lasts in this cosmos, therefore, this selfishness or self-obsession is a product of this pessimism.