Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 20 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: OH FAIR ENOUGH ARE SKY AND PLAIN
Last Line: AND WISHES HE WERE I.
Oh fair enough are sky and plain,
But I know fairer far:
Those are as beautiful again
That in the water are;

The pools and rivers wash so clean
The trees and clouds and air,
The like on earth was never seen,
And oh that I were there.

These are the thoughts I often think
As I stand gazing down
In act upon the cressy brink
To strip and dive and drown;

But in the golden-sanded brooks
And azure meres I spy
A silly lad that longs and looks
And wishes he were I.





Home: PoetryExplorer.net