A Shropshire Lad - XV
Look not in my eyes, for fear
They mirror true the sight I see,
And there you find your face too clear
And love it and be lost like me.
One the long nights through must lie
Spent in star-defeated sighs,
But why should you as well as I
Perish? gaze not in my eyes.
A Grecian lad, as I hear tell,
One that many loved in vain,
Looked into a forest well
And never looked away again.
There, when the turf in springtime flowers,
With downward eye and gazes sad,
Stands amid the glancing showers
A jonquil, not a Grecian lad.
Commentary
I love this poem. Not just for the content, but also for the “feel” of the words. It flows so beautifully and is vaguely sinister. There is a distinct shift in tone from line 8 to line 9, where he moves into the explanation of the poem - where we learn that it is about self-love.
I have been to the house in Hampstead, UK, where Housman wrote A Shropshire Lad, and I have to say if anywhere could inpspire poetry in someone, it is there!
As to further suggestions for content - well, anything by Housman!!!
— Louise