QuasitQuasit's Book Recommendations: "A Shropshire Lad" by A. E. Housman (1896)
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.
Meet A.E. Housman, if you haven't met him before. His poetry may not be fashionable any more (he rhymed, which is apparently a cardinal sin among poets these days), but it was brilliant, addictive, and powerfully moving.
I memorized many of his poems for years, just for the fun of it. There are lessons in them that I treasure.
That's why, when I came across a TERRIBLY mangled Barnes & Noble ebook of "A Shropshire Lad", I couldn't resist writing a review in the style of Housman:
The verses get five stars from me;
The presentation, one.
A pity 'tis that OCR's
So ruined poor Housman's fun!
The headers cleave each verse in twain
The lines lie torn and wrent,
How cruel to make him die again!
Needlessly violent.
But hope lives on, for pristine text
of "Shropshire Lad" is free
On Project Gutenberg, the home
of Housman fans like me.
And here's the link, available on Project Gutenberg in all the major ebook formats. Enjoy!
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5720
Happy reading! 🤓📖
#QuasitBookRecs #Books #Classics #Bookstodon #Poetry #FreeEbooks
Captain Aggravated
BookShelves eBook Reader