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Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.
Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.
Alfred Edward Housman
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Wednesday, December 24, 2003 |
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Read poems about / on: life, lost, spring
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Comments about this poem (Here Dead We Lie
by
Alfred Edward Housman
) |
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Carlos Echeverria (2/2/2012 1:25:00 PM)
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It's great poem because it's open to interpretation. The first line, taken literally, means the dead are not telling the truth about the ravages of war.If that first were to rhyme, it would be inversion; but it's not-its meaning is exact. To me, this poem protests war.
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Mohammad Akmal Nazir (2/2/2011 8:17:00 PM)
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Outstanding poetry. The young soldiers preferred to die in the battle field than to bring disgrace to their country.
They didn't want to come to their own country as losers.
Excellent poem!
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Ian Fraser (2/3/2010 6:49:00 AM)
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Few poems as short as this have caused as much controversy As Here Dead We Lie. Many attempts have beeen made to re-interpret it in the light of more 'modern' views of war but I think Houseman is indeed saying that it is preferable to accept the risk of death than the shame of cowardice and that the life of the individual is less significant than that of the good of the whole. This last position begs of course a huge question - how is the good of the whole determined? By the powers that be? Houseman could at times be quite depressive and there does seem to be a kind of death wish here. I don't see this as one of his better poems.
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Sylva Portoian (2/3/2010 6:02:00 AM)
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'Here Dead We Lie'
The line stanziated as definite end
However...
I feel, might can still means,
'We lie, but still we are alive'.
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Joey Valenzuela (2/2/2010 11:32:00 PM)
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the second stanza is somewhat saying that man is losing much about life...
and it soppurted the idea that man did not die in his land-may signify his country, or the place where he was born(read last line) -
and that is the much a person lost (which is presented in stanza two....
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JOSEPH POEWHIT (2/2/2010 12:45:00 PM)
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Early death is tragic, when one thinks of potentials lost.
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Kevin Straw (2/2/2010 9:59:00 AM)
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This is second-rate poetry.
The first line contains an unnecessary inversion – why not “Here we lie dead/Because…”
Also in the first line: “here” and “lie” could be left out (we know the dead “lie” and we know they must lie somewhere, and where else do they “lie” if not “here”? 'We are dead because...' could have been the first line.
The “to be sure” is smug – and there is nothing “sure” about life being nothing much to lose (Housman here tries to make his own jaundiced view of life a universal belief.) . Nor is it sure that young men think life is nothing much to lose..
Housman ignores all the positive reasons for which young men fought in WWI (and there were many) for the negative one of not wanting to 'live and shame the land...'.
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Kayke Stone Elizabeth-Meyers (2/2/2010 3:09:00 AM)
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a very nice poem even thou is short...
it is very meaningful....
i agree with you edward!
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Indira Renganathan (2/2/2010 1:47:00 AM)
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Simple words pregnant with a meaningful call for the youth....all the youths should ponder over what they should do for the betterment of their land.as it's the righteous general norm....a norm necessary for the mother-land...here this poem speaks to the extreme of sacrifice....honorable poet and poem
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Sadiqullah Khan (2/2/2010 1:13:00 AM)
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Had he not been young, he would not have done this sacrifice. Now a day, there is no such trend and people are aware of their rights and duties than to be bullied to death in the name of religion or patriotism. Young men are deceived into death while fighting. Those who win then celebrate on their dead bodies. This is what he is talking about in this poem. Excellent narration, simple and filled with emotion.
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