A muse for our interest

[sour_grapes]

For your enjoyment, here is a fragment of a poem that has an interesting characterization of our favorite sport: (The full poem by Housman has a much deeper message, but that is for another day!)


Why, if ’tis dancing you would be,
There’s brisker pipes than poetry.
Say, for what were hop-yards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God’s ways to man.
Ale, man, ale’s the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world’s not.
And faith, ’tis pleasant till ’tis past:
The mischief is that ’twill not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left my necktie God knows where,
And carried half way home, or near,
Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer:
Then the world seemed none so bad,
And I myself a sterling lad;
And down in lovely muck I’ve lain,
Happy till I woke again.
Then I saw the morning sky:
Heigho, the tale was all a lie;
The world, it was the old world yet,
I was I, my things were wet,
And nothing now remained to do
But begin the game anew.

 

[bkisel]

To me it seems more a characterization of our youthful indiscretions and over indulgences with alcohol which, fortunately for most of us, we grow away from and leave behind.

 

[sour_grapes]

Yup, Bill. Housman would probably not disagree with you (although he had a larger message, too).

 

[bkisel]

Yup, Bill. Housman would probably not disagree with you (although he had a larger message, too).

So I followed the your link and read the entire poem. Yes, he does have more and deeper things to say.

Thanx...