Along The Field As We Came By Poem by Alfred Edward Housman
Along The Field As We Came By
ALONG the field as we came by
A year ago, my love and I,
The aspen over stile and stone
Was talking to itself alone.
‘Oh who are these that kiss and pass?
A country lover and his lass;
Two lovers looking to be wed;
And time shall put them both to bed,
But she shall lie with earth above,
And he beside another love.’
And sure enough beneath the tree
There walks another love with me,
And overhead the aspen heaves
Its rainy-sounding silver leaves;
And I spell nothing in their stir,
But now perhaps they speak to her,
And plain for her to understand
They talk about a time at hand
When I shall sleep with clover clad,
And she beside another lad.
Housman, capturing the romance of love and the mortal fate of death, playing it's hand. In a way saying, life is short, who knows what the next heart beat will bring, in the field of love.
this poem has something to do with the idea of karma and prophesies....and also, the idea that history repeats itself........ in the first stanza, there is the scene of lovers passing along the field, and there they heard the aspen tree talking himself about 'these [people, probably] that kiss and pass' the tree's quotation somewhat presents a prophesy of what's about to happen, probably... But she shall lie with earth above, >>>>>>>>>>in this lines the tree prophesied the And he beside another love>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>girl to die, and the man to have >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>another girl in the beggining of the second stanza, the prophesy was confirmed to have happened..... And sure enough beneath the tree There walks another love with me on the other hand, in the middle part of stanza two, there again is the prophesizing of the aspen tree, but this time it was told to the girl.... And overhead the aspen heaves Its rainy-sounding silver leaves; And I spell nothing in their stir, But now perhaps they speak to her, and the prophesy then happened (just like the first stanza a lover would die, probably) And plain for her to understand They talk about a time at hand When I shall sleep with clover clad, And she beside another lad. the idea of karma was presented when the situation that the first girl was into happened to the man........
What kind of love is this? Are they really loving each other? Are they both have affairs with other ones each? Aspen tree only knows!
THREE: It's a poignant meditation on how time changes relationships and the inevitability of moving on after loss.
TWO: It describes a scene where the speaker and his beloved walk through a field, with the aspen trees seemingly predicting the woman's eventual death and the speaker's future love with another.
ONE: The poem is about the transience of human life and the inevitability of death. The poem reflects on the fleeting nature of love and the certainty of loss.
CONGRATULATIONS being chosen again by Poem Hunter and Team as The Classic Poem Of The Day. TOP Marks again.
A great read. A tree is the silent witness of a life's journey. Amazing imagery.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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12/7/2024 6:13:13 AM # 1.0.0
A beautiful masterpiece on the regular nature of change, sorrow, parting and eventually death seen from an everyday perspective. The poems of Housman stand out because of their lovely innate understatement.