is+my+team+plowing

=**//Is my team plowing//**=

by A.E Housman (1859-1936)


"Is my team plowing, That I was used to drive And hear the harness jingle When I was man alive?"

Aye, the horses trample, The harness jingles now; No change though you lie under The land you used to plow.

"Is football playing Along the river shore, With lads to chase the leather, Now I stand up no more?"

Aye the ball is flying, The lads play heart and soul; The goal stands up, the keeper Stands up to keep the goal.

"Is my girl happy, That I thought hard to leave, And has she tired of weeping As she lies down at eve?"

Aye she lies down lightly, She lies not down to weep: Your girl is well contended. Be still, my lad, and sleep.

'Is my friend hearty, Now I am thin and pine; And has he found to sleep in A better bed than mine?"

Yes, lad, I lie easy, I lie as lads would choose; I cheer a dead man's sweetheart, Never ask me whose.

=The Elements of TIME=


 * TIME || From the poem || Explanation ||
 * Theme || Life continues when one dies
 * horses still plow
 * football is still played
 * friend is still "hearty" || The living friend continuously reminds his dead friend that life has continued even though he is dead. Horses still plow, football is still played, and his girl is still being cheered. ||
 * Imagery || * "Along the river shore, with lads to chase the leather"
 * "Aye, the horses trample, the harnesses jingle now"
 * "Now I am thin and pine" || * Housman does not use an extensive amount of figurative language, but does use a lot of description to paint pictures
 * The use of the word "jingle" allows readers to have a detailed picture of the poem in their minds
 * The duel meaning of the word "pine" can refer either to a casket or the physical state of the "dead" man ||
 * Meter || * Second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme
 * Conversation between the "dead" man and his living friend
 * 8 Stanzas, 4 lines each || * "Dead" man asks 4 questions to his friend
 * Subjects of questions least important to most important
 * Living friend progressively wants "dead" man to "go to sleep" (shut up) ||
 * Emotion || * Readers feel:
 * Amused
 * Humored
 * Moved
 * Sympathetic || * The responses that the living man makes depicts their friendship
 * "Cheering" his friends sweetheart is funny
 * "Dead" man really cared about living friend
 * Feel bad for the dead man, his girl doesn't even mourn him anymore ||

=About A.E. Housman=


 * Born:** March 26th, 1859


 * Died:** April 30th, 1936


 * Nationality**: British
 * Oldest son of Sarah Jane and Alfred Edward Housman
 * Bromsgrove, Worcestershire 1859
 * Family troubles brewing
 * Sarah Jane dies
 * Father marries his own cousin
 * A.E Housman frustrated
 * Frustration turns to writing
 * Housman and two brothers began to write during hard times
 * Some of Housman's best poems were about his family troubles
 * Attends St. John's College in Oxford in 1877
 * Falls in love with roommate Moses Jackson
 * So distracted he fails exams
 * Forced to take them again
 * Loses brilliant reputation
 * Poems about love, friendship, past memories
 * Later became a professor at London College
 * Latin studies
 * Writing
 * Significance to the poem
 * Friendships are important
 * Shows human nature
 * Life goes on

Works Cited

"A. E. Housman." //Poets.org//. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. "A.E Housman Biography." //Biography//. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Housman, A.E. "Chapter 2: What Is Poetry?" //Perrine Literature//. New York: n.p., n.d. 585. Print.