A Shropshire Lad 2
By A.E Housman
Audio Recording
Poem
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy spring a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
About the Author
Interpretation of key lines from the poem
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
So this sounds as if A.E Housman is going down this woodland path that he walks or rides down all the time and he sees all these cherry trees in bloom but covered in snow. It could also mean that the trees aren't as fully bloomed as they do after Easter.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
Threescore ears and ten is a Bible reference to Psalm 90-10 that states "As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away." This actually directly relates to what is happening in Housman's life. The poem explains that he is twenty years old and he only has 50 more years before the bible says he will die. It also says "pride is but labor and sorrow" and he worked as a professor for Latin and didn't really have much of a life outside of that so he could have been depressed. It also says seventy springs so he must really like the cherry trees in blooming season and could have had a bad event that happened in his life during the spring.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
This part was talking about his life. He is saying that fifty more years is not that much time left and he feels that his life just slipped past his fingertips.
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
This part is really interesting because he basically says that as he's walking/riding on the woodland path and his favorite loveliest tree is all covered in snow. It uses the word hung which is a very depressing description of the snow. This could mean lots of things but it sounds as if he is truly missing someone or something in his life and as he keeps walking down his own path in life, everything great that he comes across has been messed with so that those great things in his life are not so good anymore.