DEWA AYU FEBRINA KUMARA PUTRI

1418351025
LITERARY CRITICISM

When I Was One-and-Twenty

By: A. E. Housman

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.

Questions:
1. What does the poem tell you?
2. Who is the one talking to the speaker?
3. How is it told to you?
4. What makes the poem beautiful to you?
5. What is the weakness of the poem?
Answers:
1. The poem opens with an older man advising the 21-year-old man to give away money
and wealth, but never his heart. The 21-year-old admits how useless it was to try and
warn him of the dangers of love because no one will listen at that age. Then the older
man continues to warn him that the cost will be a painful experience. When the 21-year-
old turns 22, he replies to this man's wisdom saying, "And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true!". He
admits, after he has gone out and ignored the advice and paid the price, that the cost is a
painful one to pay. Housman's style is lighthearted and musical, but the message of his
poem is poignant and full of wisdom. This poem reiterates that love is not always logical
or wise and the young man in this poem had to learn that through experience.
2. A wise man who has many experiences and full of wisdom
3. Because in the second line of the first stanza the writer tells us “I heard a wise man say”
4. This poem is beautiful because the words that speaker use “one and twenty” instead of
“twenty one”. And the meaning from this poem is really great with the wisdom words
from the wise man.
5. The words that writer use is full of symbols, it makes hard to understand the meaning.
We have read this poem more than once to understand this poem.