a.e housman
Post on 19-Jul-2015
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Alfred Edward Housman:
Lovelies of treesWhen I was one-
and-twentyGroup 2
Nguyễn Phương Vân
Kiều
Thái Phạm Ánh Ngọc
Lăng Hoàng Lê Phương
Nguyễn Thị Minh
Nguyễn Ngọc Nha Trang
Lê Nguyễn Thanh Uyên
Nguyễn Lê Tường Vân
Nguyễn Thị Thúy Vy
poems‟ themesGrief
pastoral beauty
unrequited lovefleeting youth
deathpatriotism of the common soldier
Introduction• Period:
taken from The ShropshireLad : Victorian – Modern period. strongly reminiscent of the
Romantic period: natural imagery and optimism.
• Type:
Lyric poem => expressing an emotion or idea produced through
Loveliest of trees,
the cherry now
Is hung with bloom
along the bough,
And stands about the
woodland ride
Wearing white for
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,Metaphor:
* early spring youth and beginnings
* the cherry treebeauty of nature and
springmost beautiful of all
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.* Woodland ride:
a countryside path lined with blossoming cherry trees
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.Personification: The
cherry tree is wearing white to join the celebration of holy
Easter festival White
peace and purity
(metaphor)
Now, of my threescore years and ten
•Score = twenty
threescore =sixty
• Threescore years and ten the poet‟s desire to
again,And take from seventy
springs a scoreIt only leaves me fifty
more “twenty will not come
again,”The first 20 years of his
life has gone and can never be taken back
“Take from seventy
SynecdocheSpring => a year– The most beautiful
season
of all the four.
– The beginning season
of a year
Assonance
„ten‟ & „again‟ (line 5 & 6) / e /
„score‟ & „more‟ (line 7 & 8) /ɔː/
a sense of continuity and fluidity to the verse.
more flexibility and adds music to the poem.
Ten & Again: twenty years have gone
Synecdoche
Things in bloom: beautiful things in life
Fifty springs: fifty years
Woodlands: the whole world
Metaphorsnow
Literal Figurative
the real snow
=> implications of winter
the cherry blossoms
=> appreciate the beauty
Paraphrase
The beautiful cherry tree stands out along the woodland path when it is blooming white in springtime. i‟m twenty years old and can expect to live to be seventy. Since I only have about fifty years left in my life, I will
Theme and meaning• The poet expresses the view
that we should seize every opportunity to experience life in all its beauty.
• Houseman tried to underline the brevity of life against the vastness of earth and the limitless beauty that abounds in it.
• The poem's briefness, short
SummaryWhen he was twenty one, he got an advice
from a wiser person - don’t bank too much on
love, but he promptly ignored it.
When he was twenty two,
the advice turned out to be helpful,
and he admitted: “’Tis true.”
Why “one-and-twenty” but not “twenty-one”?
Contributes to the lyrical style of the
poem
as well as the assonance
Emphasizes the brash youth.
emphasize the youth’s passionate love,
which the value of it is far beyond
any property and jewelry
The effect of the Wise man
Give crowns and
pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and
rubies
But keep your fancy
What “crowns”, “pound”, “guineas”,
“pearls” and “rubies” stand for?
The idea of money is an interesting way to explain
the trials of love, using money-language.
A young man must guard against having his life
taken over by his material possessions and
other’s opinions,
but his mental and emotional life.
When I was one-and-
twenty
I heard him say
again,
“The heart out of the
bosom
Was never given in
vain;
Why use “paid”?
→ The wise man is commenting on the nature of
love. No love is without its trials, and nothing is
harder to give away than one’s heart.
→ The young man didn't heed the wise man's
advice and fell in love he had to pay for it
with continuous misery and deeply emotional
hurt.
The effect of the last line
Feeling regretful
Emphasizing the author’s realization about
valuable lessons of love and life when he was
older, gained maturity and experience.
Theme
Advice is only really accepted and learned
through personal experience.
The love among youth is far more valuable
than jewels and riches thus it should not be
given too easily.
Young people are stubborn and unwilling to
listen to others.
The rhythm of the poem Each of even-numbered lines contains six
syllables.
Each of the odd-numbered lines contains
seven syllables.
Giving the poem a sense of melody
“I heard a wise man say (line 2)
But not your heart away (line 4)”
“When I was one-and-twenty (line 1)
Give crowns and pounds and guineas(line 3)”
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