"Dig my grave and dig it deep"

Has anyone notice how everyone uses these lines in poems, and then try to claim them...I mean yea sure it's alright but, give credit to whom you seen it from.

"Dig my grave and dig it deep, marble stone from head to feet. Upon my grave place a dove to show the world I died for love."
-Unknown (www.coolquotescollection.com/Poetry7.aspx)

"They dug her grave and dug it deep
And placed white lilies at her feet
And on her breast they placed a dove
To show that she had died for love "
-The Maiden's Prayer

So dig my grave and dig it deep,
and plant marijuana at my feet
And by my side, a snow white dove
to show the world I died for his love.
-Unknown

"Dig my grave and dig it deep
Place red roses at my feet
Upon my chest a pure white dove
To show the world I died for love "
-A PRISON BOY

"Dig my grave and dig it deep,
Place red roses at my feet
Upon my chest a turtle Dove..
to show the world I died for love"
-Simon Deacon

Not really, alot of famous authors quote from other poems or stories. If credit is given then it is allowed, because then evey line would be copyrighted and would be un useable even the lines "Dig my grave and dig it deep wouldn't be allowed'

Thats what I was saying, if you use a line in your poem which you took from another poem you need to give credit. The above are variations of the same poem.

I dk. I can't say I notice that a lot. What I do notice is that even famous people like Jay-Z and other random people quote Friedrich Nietzsche. "What does not kill me only makes me stronger." No one EVER gives him credit, half the people in the world who've heard that saying probably don't even know who Friedrich Nietzsche is. It really bothers me sometimes. >_<

Thats a bit crap.
I wrote a poem a long time ago with the words, "Dig my grave and dig it deep" and i can honestly say i had never heard of any of those poets you have quoted there or read it elsewhere.
So how have i plagurised? By writing something by coincidence purely by accident.
I don't think so somehow.

The poem actually goes
Once upon a time where I dwell
I mett a boy I liked so well
Until one day he sat me free
And sat another upon his knee
He told her things he never told me
I found out why
She was more beautiful than I
I went home to cry in bed
Not a word to my mother was said
My father came home from work that night
Looked both ways left and right
In through the doors that he broke
He found me hanging from a rope
On the dresser there was a note
That read
Dig my grave
Dig it deep
Marble stone from head to feet
On my grave place a dove
To show the world I died for love
I wrote that 20 years ago in high school
I can't believe it gets used like it does
I was shocked to even find someone talking about it!

I cant say I have noticed but then I have a terrible memory at times. I once read somewhere that there is no such thing as a new story. I guess tin the case of poetry hat there are only so many descriptive words in the world and whilst we all have different ways of putting them together there must be the remote chance that a writer could just coincidently create a line that is similar if not the same as someone elses way of putting it together.

There is also the chance that something you read years previously might suddenly be pulled out of your subconsious memory as a line or lyric without you realising that you had heard it somewhere. In the writers mind he might think he had just invented it.

I dont think (or I hope they dont) people set out to be deliberate plagerists because if they did it would be on more than a few words or lines and it would happen in more than one poem because cheating is a habit not a one off event and easily proven. I just think that there are so many poets all taking words from the same English vocabulary so inevitably some overlaps will appear.

Getting back to the original comments. I do agree thowever that if you deliberately choose to use someone elses lines then of course you should be upfront and credit the writer.

Milly x

What year did you write this? If you don’t mind me asking.

In 1989 at 16 years old, while in my junior year in high school I wrote a poem about loving someone and committing suicide by hanging. It ended with “dig a grave and dig it deep with marble stones from head to feet. On my grave place a white dove to show the world I died for love.” It was a very dark time in my life and I find it both sad and funny that after all these years I’m now not only seeing it in various places but finding so many other people taking credit for it. I had never heard any version of it before in my life and at the time that I wrote it computers and the internet weren’t even a thing yet! I’m a firm believer that absolutely no human thought or idea has NEVER been unique to just one person. I mean how many times has a person seen a brand new invention or a turn of phrase and thought “hey, I thought of that invention or said that phrase. Isn’t that funny. What a small world.” This was all long before ideas were patented as “proprietary property”. Yes it’s mildly disappointing but I’m not angry. I have proof that my poem was printed in my yearbook and submitted for publication and you don’t see me getting upset about not getting credit. I’m actually a bit flattered.

I don't believe phrases or idioms are necessary plagiarism, but it's what you do with it and how you shape the poem that makes it seem purposeful or not. "dig my grave and dig it deep" seems like a common line, as there are not further explanations.

However, anything else added to it to specifically reference the marbles stones and white dove, I would say is plagiarism.

It could be one's subconscious hearing this and applying it to one's poem, and I definitely agree to an extent that nothing is truly unique. Inspiration is one thing, and interpretation, but almost line for line, the same context, is where it gets questionable for me.

Especially since all you have to do is Google the lines, and the origins are from a folk song in the 1920s:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butcher%27s_Boy_(folk_song)

There are many slight variations of the last stanza, but almost all of the poems are the same idea and story. The concept of losing someone to suicide by that method is certainly not unique and has affected people all around the world, but the closing lines and images seem far too similar to ever claim as one's own. Perhaps I'm wrong, and it's unintentional, but I don't really believe in coincidences. Maybe someone heard the original song somewhere, or had the idea passed on to them and, without knowing it, adapted it into their poem, thinking it was their own. Or maybe the imagery of "dig" and "grave" and "marble" and the symbolism of doves was bound to be placed together.

Honestly I wrote one very similar to this so we both had to have heard it somewhere and thought we were writing it I wrote mine 26 years ago and it went:

In a place where I did dwell
I met a boy I loved so well
He came and took that love from me
And now he wants to set me free
I even know the reason why
She was so much prettier than I
I came home and cried on my bed
Not a word to my mother I said
My father came home
Late that night
He searched for me
From left to right
He came upstairs
The door he broke
And found me hanging
From a rope
And on my jeans
Was a note that said:
Dig my grave, dig it deep
Marble stone from head to feet
And on the ground
Please place a dove
To show the world
I died for love.

I was 13 going through a breakup with a boy I dated who ended up sleeping with my step-sister when I wouldn’t sleep with him. I had this poem put in a poetry contest through poetry.com when I was 17 and it was placed in one of their books. Now seeing that it’s been used in so many other things the only explanation is that I made my own version after I maybe saw it somewhere. Even though I don’t ever remember reading it or hearing anywhere. But how else would this poem have been copied by so many other people if not by this way. The internet wasn’t even a thing when I wrote my version. I didn’t have dial-up in my house until I was 14. So the internet isn’t an option. Now the internet is probably how it’s spread but back then? The only way would have been by reading it or hearing it.

The phrase, "Dig my grave and dig it deep," itself lends itself to easy construction: the motif of finality, the need to hide from reality, to escape "deeply" and the alliteration (all those Ds and gutturals).

In the world of poetic phrases this is hardly one to fight over.
One early version was from a traditional Irish folk song: I Once Loved A Lass.
See one version here: https://www.irish-folk-songs.com/i-once-loved-a-lass-song-lyrics-and-chords.html

My sister showed me a very similar poem to this 16 years ago and I still remember it so much. I'm always reciting the poem..

Away from here it is hell
I met a guy I loved so well
He took his love away from me
Now he wants to set me free
He sat a girl upon his knees
And told her things he never told me
I ran home angry to my room
And not a word to my mom I said
My dad came home late at night
He looked for me from left to right
He went up stairs the door he broke
To find me hanging from a rope
He took a knife and cut me down
And upon the floor a note be found
"Dig a hole
Dig it deep
Place a star at my feet
And from my statue hang a dove
To show the world I died of love."

Am just going to leave this here????

down at the park at the end of the street i met a guy ever so sweet there he took my heart from me & now he wants to set it free, he once sat a girl upon his knee & told her things he never told me i went home to cry on my bed not a single word there was said dad came home late that night he looked for me from left to right, through my bedroom door he broke & found me hanging from a rope i left this note " dig my grave dig it deep from marble stone head to feet on my stone place a dove to show the world I died for love".

I have no idea who the original author was but I can tell you a version circulated in my school in 1988. It was my 8th grade year, my teacher just returned from loosing her son and because it was passed as a note I had to read it out loud..

My father came home late one night,
He looked for me from left to right,
He ran upstairs, my door he broke
And saw me hanging from a rope.

He grabbed a knife and cut me down,
In my jeans this note he found,
Dig my grave and dig it deep,
With marble stone from head to feet.
And on my grave please place a dove to tell the world, I died for love.

This also, is not the original, but the closest I've found. I've been trying to find this poem for years. I first heard this poem on the school bus in mountain home, AR in 1993. A girl read it to me from a piece of notebook paper (possibly copied down being that's how we did stuff like that then ;) ). I don't remember if she was the author, but that's when I first heard it.

This is amazing. I would love to hear if anyone else either wrote something similar or heard it before the Internet. I vaguely remember hearing or reading something along the lines of, on my grave place a dove, to show the world I died for love. Now where I read it or heard it I have no memory of.

A girl named Filiz Ziya wrote it when she was in grade 8. I think she’s in her 40’s now.