To an Athlete Dying Young

“With Rue My Heart is Laden” by A. E. Housman (1896)

In this poem, Housman uses many of the same literary devices in “To an Athlete Dying Young.” There are alliteration and repetition, and there are also two quatrains and an ABAB rhyme scheme. The theme of loss is present too. A star athlete prevents the loss of his glory by dying early, but in “With Rue My Heart is Laden,” the speaker reflects on the loss of his “golden friends” (Line 2). He used to go around with “many a rose-lipt maiden” (Line 3) and “many a lightfoot lad” (Line 4). Now, like the athlete, they’re gone. In both poems, the tone is quite melancholy.

“When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A. E. Housman (1896)

Another melancholy poem that deals with the superficialities of Western culture, this poem takes on the form of a dialogue. In Stanza 1, a “wise man” (Line 2) tells the speaker to go ahead and give away money and material objects but to the heart. In Stanza 2, the wise man adds that a person pays differently for retaining their heart. The cost involves “sighs a plenty” (Line 13) and “endless rue” (Line 14).