A Poem For Your Thoughts

A.E. Housman

A Poem For Your Thoughts

Academy of American Poets

Davis Creach, Arts Director
September 27, 2017

Welcome back to A Poem For Your Thoughts. Last week we discussed the beauty of T. S. Eliot, and many of you had very interesting opinions. This week’s chosen comment comes from North Allegheny Alumni Alex Giorgetti:

As always, Mr. Creach offers an insightful interpretation. He can see beyond the superficially dingy street amidst the fog and view the lives of people going about their days. Beats looking out my dorm window and seeing Fifth Avenue and buses all the time!

His poem describes how one look can set everything right in an otherwise miserable day. I particularly like the line “High and lofty trees float overhead, casting dreams upon the pavement.” It’s a very thoughtful poem and shows the speaker’s deep reflections.

Keep up the great work!

Thank you for commenting! I encourage you to continue posting comments on each weekly edition of this column and you just might end up in next week’s article! Each edition will include two poems, the first being a featured piece written by a famous poet that will be analyzed and interpreted according to my point of view. Of course, everyone’s interpretation is different and valid, and the comment section will be open for any further discussion. The second piece is written by yours truly and will be open to complete interpretation and analysis. Go forth, enjoy, and as you read, remember: “It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau

 

Poem One: A Shropshire Lad 26: Along the field as we came by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

 

Along the field as we came by

A year ago, my love and I,

The aspen over stile and stone

Was talking to itself alone.

“Oh who are these that kiss and pass?

A country lover and his lass;

Two lovers looking to be wed;

And time shall put them both to bed,

But she shall lie with earth above,

And he beside another love.”

 

And sure enough beneath the tree

There walks another love with me,

And overhead the aspen heaves

Its rainy-sounding silver leaves;

And I spell nothing in their stir,

But now perhaps they speak to her,

And plain for her to understand

They talk about a time at hand

When I shall sleep with clover clad,

And she beside another lad.

Thoughts: This is a beautiful, morose, and sentimental poem that really evokes a sense of despair and lost love to the clutches of Death. Housman depicts his speaker as a man infatuated with a woman who he intends to marry. The first paragraph paints a vivid picture a “country lover and his lass” sharing kisses and walking under the aspen tree. However, the light and lofty tone of passion shift to a more dark and morose tone when the speaker’s lover dies. Even so, he moves on and walks with another lover under the same aspen tree. Yet again, our tone moves from cheerful to melancholy, as our speaker eventually dies and his lover sleeps “beside another lad.” Housman displays a never-ending cycle of love deterred by Death and our ability to move past even the most passionate of loves. The heart is full of desire, but love will always be fickle.

Poem Two: Yellow Line by D.C.

 

“Behind the yellow line!” the old hag would say,

And, terrified, behind that line I would stay.

A 10 year old boy, curious at the sight,

Of the bright yellow buses, stopped at my right.

 

I wanted to step, across that neon border,

Just to see how the asphalt would feel.

Of course I knew I would upset the order

Of my government, the old hand of steel.

 

But what was beyond that brightly painted curb?

A whole new, unchartered world I could not wait to disturb.

A land of adventure, marvel, and extreme wild creatures,

Complete with large horns and strange, exotic features.

 

But the old hag said, harshly, “Get back, and stay back.”

And I watched as my dream world began to crack.

The creatures fled the musk, smoky scene,

And I stood there, saddened, by the evil creeping smokescreen.

-D.C.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Poem For Your Thoughts! What did the Housman show you? What do you see in my poem? Please let me know in the comment section below and you might be featured in next week’s article!