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Analysis Of Alfred Edward Housman In 'Loveliest Of Trees'

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1. Introducing the poet Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was one of the foremost English classical scholar and poet. He was most renowned for . He was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at Cambridge as he had built his reputation by publishing as a scholar. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are considered by many to be his magnum opus. Alfred Edward Housman was born in Fockbury, Worcestershire, England, on March 26, 1859, the eldest of seven children. In 1860, his family moved to nearby Bromsgrove, where he spent his early days. Housman was educated at Bromsgrove School, where he was head and shoulders. In 1877, he attended St. John’s College, Oxford, where he received first class …show more content…

In 'Loveliest of Trees ', the poet talks about the importance of limited time contrasting to the poem, 'One day I wrote her name upon the strand ', which talks about the eternity. The poetic narrator enjoys the spring staring at the trees of cherry blossoms. But, soon, he realizes that he can see this lovely spring only 50 times in his 70-year lifetime. The narrator is a 20-year old man. Given his age, he is quite a mature person who already understood the reality of life. 50 years seems to be the long time but 50 times doesn 't seem to be. He gives us the realization that every minutes should be considered precious rather than showing the attitude of lamenting the short life being depressed. In the last stanza of the poem, he says he will go to the woodland. This scene is his effort to see more cherry blossoms, which means the effort of not spending his youth meaninglessly. If we compared the life with the day, youth would be the dawn. We 're still in the morning. Similarly, if we compared the life with the season, youth would be spring. Spring which the narrator regard as limited means the youth. Every minute and second of life are so precious and gorgeous that we couldn 't compare them to any other things. We should learn 'the loveliest of youth ' and not

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