tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post1240577300117357262..comments2024-01-02T15:12:14.699+00:00Comments on War Poetry: A. E. Housman: 'I did not lose my heart in summer's even'Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-25085008165761648492022-08-14T06:34:56.671+01:002022-08-14T06:34:56.671+01:00Far from the future this guess: The 'heel'...Far from the future this guess: The 'heel' is the heel of the constellation of Orion and the plumes are rising from artillery bombardment. As Orion is highest on he sky in winter, this helps also put it as an action in winter compared to summer.Raimo Kangasniemihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317328563337885584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-86652900372614913792018-12-26T07:09:21.619+00:002018-12-26T07:09:21.619+00:00If it were me I would think plumes of blood from f...If it were me I would think plumes of blood from fallen soldiers. That they walked or rode over.Penny Lynn McConnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02835685387795866477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-28924426343569326672011-07-29T12:01:58.474+01:002011-07-29T12:01:58.474+01:00Thanks, Tim, for clarifying the dating of LP XXIX....Thanks, Tim, for clarifying the dating of LP XXIX. And yes, the French invasion in the final stanza is in some ways strange. I am currently completing a bachelor thesis on Housman and war poetry at the VU university in Amsterdam. One observation I have made is that Housman’s war poems do not resonate with the late Victorian period in which they were written (unlike Kipling, for instance) but rather with much earlier times or conversely, with the Great War which had yet to happen (see below). I have argued – and I hope, convincingly – that it is partly for this reason that drove the popularity of A Shropshire Lad amongst soldiers on the Western Front from 1914 onwards. I have also argued that Housman’s influence on war poetry has been underestimated and as a consequence, deserves further study. <br /><br />I think the following poem, “XXIII” from A Shropshire Lad is a good example of why a Housman poem would have resonated with a soldier during World War One. Any soldier that had been inspired by Lord Kitchener to join the army, and particularly one recruited from a rural area and familiar with the pre-mechanised countryside, would have surely seen this poem reflecting his own circumstances even though it had been composed twenty years earlier.<br /><br />The lads in their hundreds to Ludlow come in for the fair,<br /> There's men from the barn and the forge and the mill and the fold,<br />The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there,<br /> And there with the rest are the lads that will never be old.<br /> <br />There's chaps from the town and the field and the till and the cart,<br /> And many to count are the stalwart, and many the brave,<br />And many the handsome of face and the handsome of heart,<br /> And few that will carry their looks or their truth to the grave.<br /> <br />I wish one could know them, I wish there were tokens to tell<br /> The fortunate fellows that now you can never discern;<br />And then one could talk with them friendly and wish them farewell<br /> And watch them depart on the way that they will not return.<br /> <br />But now you may stare as you like and there's nothing to scan;<br /> And brushing your elbow unguessed-at and not to be told<br />They carry back bright to the coiner the mintage of man,<br /> The lads that will die in their glory and never be old.Rob MacAdienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-60513756450777548702011-07-28T09:00:05.058+01:002011-07-28T09:00:05.058+01:00Thanks, Rob. LP XXIX gets a similar treatment from...Thanks, Rob. LP XXIX gets a similar treatment from Archie Burnett: '1st draft, c.1900-Sept. 1917, possibly c.1900-5, but not Oct. 1910-Oct. 1912; second draft and fair copy dated '30 March 1922...<br /><br />The French invasion of the final stanza is extraordinary. Makes me think that this isn't a WW1 poem --- why would our allies invade us? There must be memories of the Napoleonic campaigns.Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-42668366971346806922011-07-26T09:34:11.817+01:002011-07-26T09:34:11.817+01:00Perhaps for your anthology you might consider A. E...Perhaps for your anthology you might consider A. E. Housman's LP XXIX. According to Jeremy Bourne's "Soldier, I wish you well", Housman's Last Poems XXIX (see below) was written in September 1917 with a possible draft in 1900. Unfortunately, I don't have Burnett's book currently to hand to verify the dating. <br /><br />With respect to Housman's 'Astronomy', this poem, in its original form, was first drafted in December 1895 under the title, 'The Use of the Globes'. Sometime after October 1901, Housman redrafted and renamed it 'Astronomy' having heard that his youngest brother, Herbert, had been killed in the Anglo-Boer War. <br /><br /> Last poems XXIX<br /><br /> Wake not for the world-heard thunder<br /> Nor the chime that earthquakes toll.<br /> Star may plot in heaven with planet,<br /> Lightning rive the rock of granite,<br /> Tempest tread the oakwood under:<br /> Fear not you for flesh nor soul.<br /> Marching, fighting, victory past,<br /> Stretch your limbs in peace at last.<br /><br /> Stir not for the soldiers drilling<br /> Nor the fever nothing cures:<br /> Throb of drum and timbal's rattle<br /> Call but man alive to battle,<br /> And the fife with death-notes filling<br /> Screams for blood but not for yours.<br /> Times enough you bled your best;<br /> Sleep on now, and take your rest.<br /><br /> Sleep, my lad; the French are landed,<br /> London's burning, Windsor's down;<br /> Clasp your cloak of earth about you,<br /> We must man the ditch without you,<br /> March unled and fight short-handed,<br /> Charge to fall and swim to drown.<br /> Duty, friendship, bravery o'er,<br /> Sleep away, lad; wake no more.Rob MacAdienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-60239261216055199472011-07-10T11:44:25.014+01:002011-07-10T11:44:25.014+01:00You're right, Sheenagh. The plumes could be ad...You're right, Sheenagh. The plumes could be adorning horses or soldiers' helmets. The battlescene sounds Victorian. It looks like Housman wrote more surviving poems about the Boer War than the Great War, but even here, Burnett urges caution: 'Here dead lie we' and 'Now forms the lines and faces' have previously been claimed as Boer War poems, but Burnett will only concede that they were written between December 1895 and February 1900. <br /><br />'Astronomy' MUST be a Boer War poem...Tim Kendallhttp://war-poets.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-66714608641414802632011-07-10T11:07:12.799+01:002011-07-10T11:07:12.799+01:00What are the "plumes under heel"? I'...What are the "plumes under heel"? I'm seeing a cavalry action, and the plumes belonging to fallen horses, though wondering if horses in action would be wearing plumes. And they're still using sabres as well as guns. It must be very hard to assign AH's poems to a particular war sometimes, I suppose this might as easily be the Boer as the Great War.Sheenagh Pughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02735299981866333316noreply@blogger.com