i'm writing a poetry analysis paper about the poem "when i was one and twenty" by A.E. Housman. I could use some help getting the theme of the poem and what i should focus on throughout the paper!!help!!!

Jessica, basically it's story of maturation. Learning from one's own experience. As most people by age 25 could validate, a love affair gone bad, can be a revelation. Which leads to Housman's conclusion, after discovering the words he had been told were true. Some things we must experience for ourselves to fully appreciate.

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When I Was One-and-Twenty

WHEN I was one-and-twenty
  I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
  But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies
  But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
 No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
  I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
  Was never given in vain;

'Tis paid with sighs a-plenty
  And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
  And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

Les



Post Edited (03-18-05 00:32)

Let's examine this poem stanza by stanza---thank you to Les for clipping it here---

When I Was One-and-Twenty

WHEN I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;

(Ok, lines one and two are straightforward---no mystery---
then what lines 3 and four are saying is that it is easier
to give away money than one's heart / spirit.)

Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

(pretty much the same as stanza one, almost even boring---
that it's perhaps a better choice to give away
valuable jewels than to give away one's freedom. Then the speaker
basically says he'll never change his mine, so don't even try---
let's agree to disagree, cuz I aint budging---
but he does say that he was "BUT one and twenty"
that implies he realizes his immaturity / stupidity of youth)

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;

(So at age 21, this guy / dude says that his mentor / advisor who has given out all these pearls
attests to a new rule---that well---maybe after all,
the sharing of one's heart
does have SOME value------wow-------how gallant of him---AH.)

Tis paid with sighs a-plenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

(and so oh----by the age of 22 the speaker, or the speaker's speaker thinks he is worldy suddenly------whoa---oh gee--he has fallen in love.

Lisa

[bobdylan.com]

you have this poem so wrong.
It's a comical verse about the futility of love. The author is told at 21 to consider giving away everything he owns before he considers falling in love. He was advised that falling in love is full of peril and heartache and just to avoid it all together. Ignoring the advice we can asume that the author did infact fall in love and that through his own experience of it, has, at 22, arrived at the same conclusion as the "wise man." I'm 35 and still learning

>I'm 35 and still learning

Jason, thanks for your input. Loving is a life-long learning experience.


Les

what is the rhyme pattern for this poem?

abcb, cdad, aefe, agag

I would just go with xbxb, because of the inconsistencies.

ok thanks

Actually, this poem can be interpreted in many different ways, a true poetry fan would know that there is room for interpretation. Poetry apeals to the emotions rather than to the mind, thus, the reason why group of people of equal inteligence can interpret the same poem in completely different ways.