A Shropshire Lad: LXII, Terence, this is stupid stuff, if I was sad, by Alfred Edward Housman

	LXII

V	"Terence, this is stupid stuff:		C
	You eat your victuals fast enough;
	There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear,
	To see the rate you drink your beer.
V	But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,	5
V	It gives a chap the belly-ache.
	The cow, the old cow, she is dead;		C
	It sleeps well, the horned head:
	We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
	To hear such tunes as killed the cow.	10	C
	Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme			Q
	Your friends to death before their time
V	Moping melancholy mad:
V	Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad."

V	Why, if 'tis dancing you would be,	15
V	There's brisker pipes than poetry.
V	Say, for what were hop-yards meant,		C
V	Or why was Burton built on Trent?		C
	Oh many a peer of England brews		C
V	Livelier liquor than the Muse,	20
	And malt does more than Milton can		C
	To justify God's ways to man.		C
	Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
	For fellows whom it hurts to think:
	Look into the pewter pot	25
	To see the world as the world's not.
	And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past:
V	The mischief is that 'twill not last.

	Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
	And left my necktie God knows where,	30
	And carried half way home, or near,
	Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer:
	Then the world seemed none so bad,
V	And I myself a sterling lad;
	And down in lovely muck I've lain,	35
V	Happy till I woke again.
	Then I saw the morning sky:
	Heigho, the tale was all a lie;
	The world, it was the old world yet,
	I was I, my things were wet,	40
V	And nothing now remained to do
	But begin the game anew.

V	Therefore, since the world has still
	Much good, but much less good than ill,
V	And while the sun and moon endure	45
V	Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,			Q
V	I'd face it as a wise man would,
V	And train for ill and not for good.			Q
	'Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
	Is not so brisk a brew as ale:	50
V	Out of a stem that scored the hand
V	I wrung it in a weary land.
V	But take it: if the smack is sour
V	The better for the embittered hour;
V	It should do good to heart and head	55
	When your soul is in my soul's stead;
	And I will friend you, if I may,
	In the dark and cloudy day.

	There was a king reigned in the East:
V	There, when kings will sit to feast,	60
	They get their fill before they think
V	With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
	He gathered all that springs to birth
V	From the many-venomed earth;			Q
V	First a little, thence to more,	65
V	He sampled all her killing store;			Q
V	And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
V	Sate the king when healths went round.
V	They put arsenic in his meat
	And stared aghast to watch him eat;	70
V	They poured strychnine in his cup
	And shook to see him drink it up:
	They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
V	Them it was their poison hurt.
	- I tell the tale that I heard told.	75
	Mithridates, he died old.		C

Key: V: Textual Variation. C: Commentary. Q: Question. Glossary

Top ▲ Commentary

Line	Commentary
	Date: Feb 1893 - Aug 1894 (fragments), Sept/Oct 1895
1	Terence: Terence Hearsay, the supposed narrator of the poems
7	These lines mimic a traditional song
10	The phrase "the tune the (old) cow died of" is idiomatically applied to unmusical or tedious pieces of music
17	hops: used to flavour beer and give the sour taste
18	Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, is the chief brewing centre of Britain
19	many a peer: including Michael Arthur Bass, baron (1886) and Edward Cecil Guiness, baron (1891)
21	malt: used in the brewing process
22	cf Milton, Paradise Lost, i.26: "And justify the ways of God to men"
76	Mithridates, king of Pontus 120 to 63BC
Meter	Rhyming couplets of eight syllables (iambic quatrameter), with occasional irregular lines: common form for narrative poetry.

Top ▲ Variations

Line	Text	Textual variation
1	D	“Terence] ^ Oh, Terence
5	D	the pains you poets take → But meant’twas not, an no mistake
6	D	It gives a chap] To give a chap → To give your friends
13	D	To drive one melancholy mad; → And drive them melancholy mad
13		Moping] Or drive them
14	D	Come pipe] Do pipe → Pipe
15	D	Why,] Oh ^
16	D	<You need not wait for> \ There’s brisker pipes than / poetry
17	D	Say] \ Lad / [ ← My man] hop-yards] hop <yards> \ -poles /
18	D	Or] And
20	D	Livelier] A livelier
28	D	mischief] \ misery /
34	D	sterling] <decent>
36	D	Happy] And liked it
41	D	And <there was> nothing \ more was / left to do
43	D	Therefore] \ Well then / world] \ earth /
45+	D	Additional line: And heaven and earth, as all can see
46		Luck’s] Good’s trouble’s] ill is
47	D	face] take
48	D	And train] Dress
51	Dd1	And from a stalk that <scratched> \ scored / the hand
51	Dd2	stem] stalk
52+	D	Additional line: How well his vaccination took,
53	Dd1	If you \ should / come where I have been → Against you come where I have been
53	Dd2	smack] taste
53+ or 56+	D	Additional line: <Against> \ <?When> / you stand where I have stood
54	Dd1	<So> \ I think / these <that> \ bits of [?vine] / I glean
54	Dd2	The] <I think that in>
55	Dd1	<When your soul is in my soul’s stead>
55	Dd2	It should do good to] This <will> \ may / be good for
55	Dd3	May <be> \ do some / good <for> \ to /
60	D	There, \ <I hear> / \ <That feared> / when kings will <sit to> sit to feast
62	D	\ <I hear> With poison in their meat and drink /
64	D	venomed] poisoned
65	D	thence] so
66	D	He tasted all <that Asia bore> → <she ever bore> \ <the> \ her / killing store /
67	D	And easy, smiling] <Easy>, <smiling>
68	D	healths] <wine>
69	D	They] <His foes>
71	D	poured] <put>
74	D	their] <the>