I'll list the poetic devices Housman used, define them for
you, and give you a few examples. Then you can look for more on your
own.
Rhyme: the use of similar
sounding words, usually at the end of the sentence. It is very easy to identify the
rhyme scheme of this poem, because it is written as a series of couplets,
or two lines that rhyme. For instance, the first four lines
are:
‘TERENCE, this is stupid
stuff:
You eat your victuals fast
enough;
There can’t be much amiss, ’tis
clear,
To see the rate you drink your
beer.
So the rhyme scheme here is
AABB.
Consonance, or the
repetition of consonant sounds. For instance, in line 13, the letter m is repeated:
"Moping melancholy
mad."
Repetition, repeating
words or phrases: "The cow, the old cow, it is
dead."
Allusion, a reference
to history, literature, or mythology, appears in the last stanza with the tale of
Mithridates.
The tone, or the
feeling the author wants the reader to have, begins rather humorously with the speaker
poking fun at Terence's poetry: "But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,/ It gives a chap
the belly-ache." Then the speaker becomes serious and tells his
friend:
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.
This
is followed by the strange story of Mithridates, which serves as an object lesson that
sometimes when people set out to hurt you, they are actually hurting themselves
instead.
Mood is the feeling
the poem creates in the reader. You will need to decide what the mood is for
yourself.
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