Arms and the Boy The title alludes to the opening words of Virgil's Latin epic poem the "Aeneid": "Arma virumque cano" ("Of arms and the man I sing"). The poem is written in heroic couplets, in which successive pairs of lines have related ending sounds. In this instance, the final words do not rhyme; for example, "blade" and "blood" in the quotation. This is a scheme called half rhyme. Text of the Poem at Poetry Foundation Arms and the Boy "Arms and the Boy" is a poem by Wilfred Owen. Like Owen's other famous poems, it deals with the atrocities of World War I;
The Farmer's Boy commencement of the last century... The song is popular all over the country, and there are numerous printed copies, ancient and modern." Frank Kidson the English musicologist and folk song collector wrote in 1891, "Even now, the popularity of 'The Farmer's Boy' is great among country singers". Although he said that there was little variation in the text, he included three melodies and a fourth in an appendix, none of which is the most widely known one today. A legend in Little Leigh, Cheshire, suggests that the song is based on the life of the Reverend Thomas Fownes Smith (1802-1866)