#aehousman — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from A. E. Housman

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.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
A Shropshire Lad, No. 13 (1896)

More info about this quote: wist.info/housman-a-e/79621/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #aehousman #commitment #passion #regrets #relationship #reserve #romance #youth #giveaway

A quotation from A. E. Housman

The stars have not dealt me the worst they could do:
   My pleasures are plenty, my troubles are two.
But oh, my two troubles they reave me of rest,
   The brains in my head and the heart in my breast.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
“Additional Poems,” No. 17 (pub. 1937)

More info about this quote: wist.info/housman-a-e/78892/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #aehousman #brain #destiny #emotions #fate #heart #pleasure #problem #trouble #mind #intellect

Growing Older, A Short Story in X Paragraphs

Back when we studied poetry in school, I remember reading a poem that had a great impact on me. I now can't remember the author's name, or the poem's title, or any of the lines from the poem. But I do remember that it was about a Shropshire lad.

(You're such a lovely audience here on the Fediverse. Is there anyone here from Shropshire tonight?)

Many years later, I encountered a very amusing cartoon by an artist whose name I can no longer remember. Its caption was, "That OTHER Shropshire lad." I can't remember what happened in the cartoon, but it was not one of those laught-out-loud cartoons. It was one of those sideward wink cartoons that implied, "We're all sophisticates here who appreciate an ironic cartoon, and we're all in on this joke about multiple Shropshire lads -- or at least more than one Shropshire lad."

Quite a few years later, in one of the last jobs for which I was getting paid, I worked with a very nice co-worker whose family name was actually Shropshire.

He was an extremely friendly, interesting, talented, and pleasant chap with an offbeat sense of humor.

(He was the first and last person I'd ever met named Shropshire. Quite literally a Shropshire lad. In fact it suddenly occurs to me -- as I'm telling you this -- that he was ANOTHER other Shropshire lad.)

He was very tall, as I remember, and could dominate the conversation in any group by dint of his size.

I guess this just goes to show that life can be very strange. You read a poem about a Shropshire lad, later you see a cartoon about another Shropshire lad, and even later than that you become acquainted with a real-life Shropshire lad. (Even though he wasn't from Shropshire.)

I suppose that those of you who are from Shropshire won't find this chain of events about lads from Shropshire so strange -- there always being multiple lads who are from there at any given time. Yet here we are now on the Fediverse, and I think it would be cheating to look up the original poem to give you the author's name and cite some lines, and unfair to research the cartoon and attach it here for you.

It felt truer to me to just to tell you the story as it came to me. And that's what I did.
#Poetry #Cartoons #Aging #Shropshire #AEHousman #Literature #Comedy #ShortStories #Revery #StreamOfConsciousness #MicroFiction

In English, while "blank verse can be written in lines of ten or six syllables, a series of octosyllables ceases to be verse if they are not rhymed."

-- A.E. Housman as quoted by Peter Watts in his 1966 translation of Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt."

#poetry #poetrycommunity #aehousman #peergynt #henrikibsen #dramaticverse #play

He stood, and heard the steeple
Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town.
One, two, three, four, to market-place and people
It tossed them down.

Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour,
He stood and counted them and cursed his luck;
And then the clock collected in the tower
Its strength, and struck.

https://www.liederabend.cat/bloc/entrades/1339-eight-oclock

#músicaclassica #classicalmusic #klassischemusik #kunstLlied #ArtSong @classicalmusic #RebeccaClarke #womeninmusic #AEHousman

#Songoftheweek: Eight O'Clock (R. Clarke)

This week we're listening for the first time on Liederabend composer Rebecca Clarke. The song, with poem by E.A. Housman, tells about the last seconds of a condemned person's life

https://www.liederabend.cat/en/bloc/entrades/1339-eight-oclock

#músicaclassica #classicalmusic #klassischemusik #kunstLlied #ArtSong @classicalmusic #RebeccaClarke #womeninmusic #AEHousman @womencomposers

#CançóDeLaSetmana: Eight O'Clock (R. Clarke)

Aquesta setmana escoltarem a Liederabend per primera vegada la compositora Rebecca Clarke. La cançó que he triat, 'Eight O'Clock', té poema d'A. E. Housman i presenta una escena molt dura: els últims segons de vida d'un condemnat a mort.

https://www.liederabend.cat/ca/bloc/entrades/1339-les-vuit-en-punt

#músicaclassica #classicalmusic #klassischemusik #kunstLlied #ArtSong @classicalmusic #RebeccaClarke #womeninmusic #AEHousman @womencomposers