A Shropshire Lad
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Key: V: Textual Variation. C: Commentary. Q: Question. Glossary
ASL LIV “With rue my heart is laden”
Top ▲ Glossary
| Line | Word | Glossary |
| 1 | rue | Regret |
| 3 | rose-lipt | Rose-lipped |
| 4 | lightfoot | Elision of “light-of-foot”? |
Top ▲ Commentary
| Line | Commentary |
| Date: Aug 1893 | |
| 2 | golden: echoes of the “Golden Age” of Classical mythology |
| 3 | The youth, innocence and beauty of the girls are all caught in “rose-lipt” |
| 4 | Once again, carefree youth seems to be caught in the phrase “lightfoot lad”, reinforced by the alliteration |
| meter | Four line stanzas with alternating lines of seven and six syllables, rhymed alternately. |
Top ▲ Questions
| Line | Question |
| 6 | Why does the poet change “maiden” and “lad” in the first stanza to “boys” and “girls” in the second? |
| 8 | Compare the idea here with the “unwithered…garland” of the athlete in ASL XIX (ll.27-8). |
| Whole poem | Examine the use of alliteration throughout the poem. |
| Whole poem | What does the poem add to our overall sense of how untimely death of youth is presented throughout the collection? |