Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker is the main character of the poem. He writes in the first person, and primarily in the past tense. He is twenty-two at the time of writing the poem, but was twenty-one for most of the period the poem covers. Housman characterizes him as simple and naive, both when he was younger, and when he begins to narrate the poem.
Form and Meter
The poem is composed of two eight-line stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABCBCDAD ABCBADAD. The meter alternates between lines of seven and six syllables, beginning with a seven-syllable line. Generally, the poem alternates between stressed and unstressed syllables, beginning on an unstressed syllable, although it is somewhat irregular.
Metaphors and Similes
N/A
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration of "f" in line 6, "fancy free."
Alliteration of "p" in line 13, "paid with sighs a plenty."
Alliteration of "t" in line 16, "’tis true, ’tis true."
Irony
The speaker criticizes himself at twenty-one for being young and naive. Yet ironically he reveals, at the end of the poem, that he is now only twenty-two—hardly an old man looking back on his foolish youth. The same traits that frustate the speaker about his young self likely still apply to his current self.
Genre
Pastoral, love poetry
Setting
The countryside
Tone
Wry, ironic, optimistic
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the speaker, and the antagonist is love.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem is between the wise man's cynical view of love and the young man's optimism.
Climax
The climax of the poem comes in the final two lines, where the speaker resolves the conflict between his youthful optimism and the wise man's cynicism by revealing that he now sees that the wise man was right. However, he also reveals that he is now only twenty-two, making us question how much he has really learned and grown.
Foreshadowing
In the beginning of the poem, the wise man warned the speaker that love will end up costing him, but the speaker ignores the advice. Their interaction foreshadows that eventually, the wise man will be proven right.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Throughout the poem, Housman uses the "heart' to stand in for feelings of love.
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
The wise man declares that love will result in "endless rue," which is almost certainly an exaggeration. The speaker's youth makes him more likely to take the declaration seriously, because he doesn't yet understand how long life is, and how much feelings can change.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
