The Man Digging by Herbert Trench
The poem describes a barren isle where a bowed veteran digs a stubborn patch of waste ground, flinging root and rock over the cliff, and grows rich corn there. Asked what helped him most to wring such treasure from the mountainside, he replies that it is the Spade of Doubt.
By Herbert Trench · First published 1901 · Genre: Poetry, Allegory, Philosophical poetry · 171 words
First lines
The isle was barren. Far as hawk may scan / In moors it roll'd up to a headland bare / Save for one narrow patch, by ceaseless care / Sumptuous with corn. Against the sky a Man / Digging the waste I saw, -- bow'd veteran / A stubborn spade he drave in stubborn ground / And root and rock flung sheer without a sound / Over the bleak edge.... Then anew began.
"You, who have lodged in the teeth of the abyss / Your cabin low, and triumph rich as this / Wrung from the ocean-bitter mountain side, / What help'd you most to bring such treasure out? " / He stood, and after scrutiny replied, / "The thing on which I lean, the Spade of Doubt. "
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Genres
- Poetry — The entire work is verse in measured iambic pentameter with rhyme, compressed imagery, and a closing aphorism.
- Allegory — The unnamed digger working barren ground stands for persistence against nature, and the spade of doubt is a symbolic tool of inner struggle.
- Philosophical poetry — The final line turns a physical scene into a meditation on doubt as the foundation of achievement.
- Parable — A brief scene with a question and an answer teaches a moral lesson through a concrete example.
Tags
allegory · perseverance · doubt · skepticism · manual labor · farming · barren land · island · sea cliff · headland · corn · self-reliance
What this Textopian page supports
The Man Digging is listed on Textopian as a poem by Herbert Trench, dated 1901 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Herbert Trench
- Date: 1901 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Allegory, Philosophical poetry, Parable, Sonnet
- Length: 171 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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