A.E. Housman and the art of neatness
This David Middleton poem makes a powerful companion read to Housman: https://spectrum.troy.edu/alr/v31/v31Middleton.pdf
To forego the race, and perhaps save some face. Then again, to never run, is to dead before one is done.
"Townsman of a stiller town" gives me chills. Genius that should be stolen from.
I think Housman is aware of the shallowness of the thought, and the poem's irony hinges on that. The stiller town whose townsman the lad has become shows up the town which cheers and presumably now praises him for having died young.
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/poem-after-e-housman
Housman said this was the parody he liked best.
:-)
This David Middleton poem makes a powerful companion read to Housman: https://spectrum.troy.edu/alr/v31/v31Middleton.pdf
To forego the race, and perhaps save some face. Then again, to never run, is to dead before one is done.
"Townsman of a stiller town" gives me chills. Genius that should be stolen from.
I think Housman is aware of the shallowness of the thought, and the poem's irony hinges on that. The stiller town whose townsman the lad has become shows up the town which cheers and presumably now praises him for having died young.
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/poem-after-e-housman
Housman said this was the parody he liked best.
:-)