- Books, Literature, and Writing
Critiques on Three Classical Poems: Housman, Kilmer, and Magee
A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman, an English poet and scholar, was
- Books, Literature, and Writing
Critiques on Three Classical Poems: Housman, Kilmer, and Magee
A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman, an English poet and scholar, was born in 1859. The poem "With rue my heart is laden" is the 54th of 63 poems in The Shropsire Lad, which was self-published by Housman in 1896.
Housman decided to publish the book himself after being rejected by established publishers. Three years later, the book reached a status of popularity with the influence of the Second Boer War, a two-year battle maintaining the British Empire's sovereignty over two of its African republics. This popularity was further enhanced by World War I.
Houseman served as a professor at the universities of London College and Cambridge. He died in 1936 at the age of 77.
Poetical audiences like the poems for their rustic expressions and empathetic war-related sentiments. His poems are still regarded as classics today and often offered for study in high school and college literature courses.
LIV With rule my heart is laden
WITH rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.
By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade. ~
Assessing the Poem
Like many classical poems, syntax is changed from the standard subject-verb-other sentence formation. This technique dramatizes the words.
Poetic license is demonstrated in Housman's use of golden, rose-lipt, and lightfoot. Friends are not normally described as "golden," rather the idiomatic expression would be "golden memories." The interpretation is clear, however, that "golden" refers to worthwhile and trusted relationships.
In looking at the lines carefully, the syllables slightly vary with a count of 7 - 6 - 8 -7 in the first four lines and then followed by 7 - 6 - 7 - 6. The third and fourth lines can easily be reduced by one syllable so that the remaining four lines become a mirror rhythm of the first four. This is done by eliminating the article "a" in both those third and fourth lines and changing the nouns to a plural form, i.e. lads and maidens.
However, the changes compromise the rhymes between "laden" and "maiden" / "had" and "lad" with near rhymes. The singular forms also suggest that the author may have intended to deepen the meaning of his feelings by remembering each of his friends as individuals.
Alfred Joyce Kilmer, an American journalist and lecturer, was born in 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His name is in honor of two priests in his hometown; his middle name was one of the priest's surname and not a feminine appellation.
He was raised Anglican and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1913, the same year "Trees" was published in Poetry magazine. The conversion was inspired by his little daughter's poliomyelitis. Kilmer said he needed something to balance intellectualism in his life.
Part of Kilmer's career was writing dictionary definitions for Funk and Wagnalls. According to Wikipedia, he excelled at this work.
He served in WW I in the U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment wherein he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and later transferred to the military intelligence division. He wrote a memorable poem "Rouge Bouquet" commemorating nearly two dozen of his soldier comrades who died from German artillery near Baccarat, France.
Joyce Kilmer died from a sniper's bullet to the brain while on a scouting mission during the Second Battle of Marne in 1918. He was only 31 years old.
I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. ~
Assessing the Poem
While most of Kilmer's works fade into obscurity, "Trees" is remembered for its religious personification. While the title is plural, the poem addresses one tree in its sacredness and describes it in a feminine tone.
The poem contains six rhyming couplets and alternates seven- and eight-syllabic lines. Some poetic license is used with the word "prest," a spelling more closely resembling "breast" than the commonly used "pressed." The iambic meter rem