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

Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936)

Two volumes of poetry

A Shropshire Led (1896) and

Last poems (1922)

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,

Twenty will not come

again,

And take from

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

And since to look at

things in bloom

Fifty springs are

little room

About the woodlands

I will go

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

-A.F.Housman-

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.”

When I was one

and twenty

I heard a wise

man say…

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.

And I am two-and-

twenty,

And oh, ’tis

true, ’tis true…

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)”

All of the even numbered lines of this poem

contain three segment.

All of the odd-numbered lines contain one

extra unaccented syllable in the final segment.

Creating what is called feminine ending

The rhythm of the poem