One of the greatest classical scholars, A. E. Housman truly brought the Roman pastoral tradition back to England. I never really liked this poem until I heard it sung by the Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel. It’s a killer set to music.
Loveliest of Trees
A. E. Housman – 1859-1936
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
OK, a token Easter poem. I just love everything Housman wrote, except for the things in Latin. Melanie Jane minored in Latin at UI, but I spent my time trying to think in English, French, and German, at the same time. And my native language is Southern.
