Classics Retold

Chapter 42 of Far From The Madding Crowd byThomas Hardy. Context: Joseph Poorgrass in Buck's Head inn, enjoying a mug of ale with his neighbours Jan Coggan and Mark Clark.  Poorgrass is entrusted with the coffin of Fanny Robin, and during his tedious journey in the wagon, he takes a break.  "Have gone to dogs -- upon my carcass" aired by Mark Clark is part of a rustic emotional dialogue typical of Hardy's farm folks. "Have gone to dogs"  This is an old English idiom meaning to deteriorate, to be ruined, or to fall into disarray or misery. Mark Clark means that life or circumstances have become very bad. "Upon my carcass"  Here it means not a dead body. Its meaning is "upon my soul" or "on my life" or "I swear it" The combined meaning of the phrase is: "Things have completely gone wrong, I swear they have."  The speech pattern reflects Hardy's Wessex folks' dramatic, earthy, and humourous even in distr...

Whop and slop are two entirely different words but when they are used together it means doing a messy, sloppy job or carelessly dishing something out, throwing things clumsily around.  They are used together in casual English as a rhyming phrase.  Example: He just threw the books on the table with a quick whop and slop. It may also mean rough, noisy, careless eating. Whop: To hit, strike, or defeat someone or something with a lot of force.  It can also mean to do something quickly and violently. It is often used informally in sports or rough physical contexts.  Example: The team completely whopped their opponents in the championship. Spill: • To splash liquid over the edge of a container. Example: Be careful!  Don't spill your coffee on the floor. • It also means unappetising, watery or low quality food. It is also used as a slang to refer to low quality digital content. In Chapter 42 of the Far From The Madding Crowd, The phrase means to work energetically....

Context: Buck's Head Inn, in Chapter 42 of Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. Joseph Poorgrass has been carrying the coffin of Fanny Robin in a wagon, and he stops the wagon before Buck's Head inn, enters it for a mug of ale. There he meets his neighbours Jan Coggan and Mark Clark at a round table enjoying liquor.  The present dialogue is taken from their conversation. "Horned man in the smoky house" is a rustic proverbial expression used by farm folks in their dialect. A horned man means a cuckold - a husband whose wife has been unfaithful.  In old European folklore and local dialect horns means sexual betrayal.  To wear horns means publicly shamed by wife's infidelity. The smoke house is a poor, dark, uncomfortable cottage, leading to confusion, misery, or unhappiness. The phrase reflects villagers earthy humour through proverbs drawing images. The idiom shows the nineteenth century tradition of Wessex.  It warns a man against the infidelity of his part...

In Chapter 42 of the Far From The Madding Crowd the expression that "Everything goes on like sticks a-breaking" is a rustic idiom used by Mark Clark to Joseph Poorgrass when the latter meets the former and Jan Coggan. All of them are neighbours and Joseph Poorgrass has been carrying the coffin of Fanny Robin back to Weatherbury. On the way he enters Buck Head inn for a mug of ale. It means:  Things are collapsing, falling apart or going wrong. The image behind the phrase is that of dry sticks snapping one after another -- quickly and disorderly.  Hardy often gives his rural charecters vivid speech drawn from rustic dialogue. The phrase reflects the events at the household and farm of Bathsheba Everdene, where the death of Fanny Robin exposes her relationship with sergeant Troy.  Life, order, and happiness of Bathsheba Everdene and her home seem to be breaking apart. The tone is similar to saying "Everything is going to pieces" or "things are falling apart....

A very small quantity, typically of liquid. The quantity of liquid that can be held inside a sewing thimble. The term combines thimble and the suffix ful (meaning full of), and dates back to early 1600s. It is often used informally as a figure of speech to describe a small pour of liquor or a minuscule of an abstract concept (e.g., "not a thimbleful of common sense.") Synonyms include a dash, a splash, tad, drop, or modicum. 

Joseph Poorgrass had been carrying the coffin of Fanny Robin. On the way he entered an inn (Buck's Head) for a mug of ale. His neighbours Mark Clark and Jan Coggan were there, already enjoying drinks at a round table. Mark Clark aired the dialogue, "your face don't praise your mistress's table."  It means this:  Joseph Poorgrass looked thin, miserable or underfed, and his presence did not advertise Bathsheba's hospitality very well.  If a servant's face appeared pale hungry and unhappy, people might think the mistress of the house did not feed or treat her workers properly.  The phrase "praise your mistress's table" means: • To show by one's healthy appearance, that the employer used to keep a good table. • That food and drinks are plentiful and generous. Mark Clark was teasing Joseph, "You don't look like a man well fed."  Poorgrass was often anxious, timid, and self pitying. Hardy uses such a rustic dialogue to show the ea...