Terence, this is stupid stuff
"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.
But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,
It gives a chap the belly-ache.
The cow, the old cow, she is dead;
It sleeps well, the horned head:
We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
To hear such tunes as killed the cow.
Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme
Your friends to death before their time
Moping melancholy mad:
Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad."
Why, if 'tis dancing you would be
There's brisker pipes than poetry.
Say, for what were hop-yards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh, many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world's not.
And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past:
The mischief is that 'twill not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left my necktie god knows where,
And carried half-way home, or near,
Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer:
Then the world seemed none so bad,
And I myself a sterling lad;
And down in lovely muck I've lain,
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,
And nothing now remained to do
But begin the game anew.
Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.
'Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale:
Out of a stem that scored the hand
I wrung it in a weary land.
But take it: if the smack is sour,
The better for the embittered hour;
It should do good to heart and head
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:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all that springs to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;
And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went round.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt
- I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.
Commentary
Another poem I love, and memorized long ago (and still have memorized) is brought strongly to mind by Baudelaire’s “Enivrez-vous”. It’s a poem in defense of gloomy poetry, and its take on the situation, and the relative merits of alcohol and poetry, is a little different from Baudelaire’s. It’s from the collection A Shropshire Lad.
The poem seems to require some notes and discussion. First of all, “Terence” is a name Housman used in his poetry to refer to himself. I don’t know enough about the ancient comic playwright Terence (Publius Terentius Afer), or for that matter about Housman himself, to know what reference Housman may have intended by this.
Now, on the poem’s outline:
It begins with a complaint by a friend of the poet for the gloominess of his poems, asking him to sing, or pipe, a happier tune.
The second section is the poet’s direct response, scoffing at the idea of happy poems for their own sake. If you want false (and fleeting) cheer, he says, drink beer; when you return to the world of reality it will be as dismal as ever.
The third section states and recommends his philosophy: prepare your heart and mind for the worst, that you may endure it. In this, the grim wisdom of bleak poems - gleaned from the poet’s own bitter experience - may aid you. In the last two lines of this section, the could almost be said to have shifted from the poet to the poem itself.
The final section is a poem within a poem. It is nicely self-referential, in that it both illustrates the gloomy poetry Housman is defending, and provides a parable illustrating the philosophy of the third section: just as Mithridates outlasted the unprepared feasters and imbibers (and all the other unprepared kings of the East) by inoculating himself against poisons, so can one innoculate oneself against all ills by judiciously taking of the bitter wisdom in advance.
Much could be said on the threads and metaphors and interesting usages running through the poem, but I don’t want to write a book here. Do take some time to look at all the liquid imagery through the whole poem, though. Have we any comments so far on the list on the ancient Northern metaphor of the Mead of Poetry?
Finally, just a few footnotes here on matters which may not be obvious:
Burton-upon-Trent is a city famous for its breweries. (I don’t know if Ludlow fair was also particularly famous for beer or beer drinking, but, well, any fair would probably do.)
At the beginning of Paradise Lost, Milton invokes the Heavenly Muse to help him “assert Eternal Providence,/And justify the ways of God to men.”
“Mithridates”, properly spelt “Mithradates”, is King Mithradates VI (the Great) of Pontus, in Asia Minor. He reigned from 120 to 63 BCE - fifty-seven years. The story of the poison comes from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. In the end, betrayed by his son, he tried to commit suicide, but could not poison himself, so he ordered a mercenary to kill him.
Enjoy, all.
RCB
Show 3 commentsHide comments
From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Mihail Faina · 27 October 2000
About the “the relative merits of alcohol and poetry” here is what Horace said:
“No poems can please long, nor live, which are written by water drinkers.” Not so sure about the readers though…
Anustup.DATTA · 29 October 2000
Thomas/Martin,
Do you remember “Strong Poison”, by Dorothy Sayers? The ploy used by the murderer is similar to that of Mithridates Rex, and Lord Peter Wimsey deduces this using Housman’s “A Shropshire Lad”. In fact - the chapter he confronts the murderer with ends with the line “Mithridates, he died old.”
Jokes apart, old Mithridates was a thorn in the side of Rome. Crassus (the triumvir) led an expedition into Asia Minor after him and was defeated and killed. Pompey fought against him and obtained victories but temporarily. It was not till incomparable Caesar overran Asia Minor (the old king was dead by then) that he subjugated his sons and his empire. Suetonius has a lively account of this, as does Plutarch.
Great piece, by the way.
Regards,
Anustup
Almaguer Dana · 1 February 2008
What I have always loved about this poem is that it seems to almost move through time following the path of emotional maturity.
In the first section, Terence, or any other angst-ridden youth, holds forth, apparently in great and gruesome detail, about the injustices of life, while all his friends simply want to drink and have fun. I have read enough teenage “blogs” on the internet to know that there are many young ‘Terences’ out there, pouring out their hearts ad nauseum about life’s cruel turns,and asking the eternal question “What’s it all about?” until I sometimes feel like responding to them, “Come, pipe a tune to dance to . . . “
In the second section, the poet has perhaps matured somewhat past the woeful teenage stage and has moved on to the slightly more mature if equally ineffective self-medication-to-counteract-life’s-unbearables stage. But like many people in their post-teen times and even those in their twenties and thirties, he learns and acknowledges that covering up the painful aspects of life–Housman uses alcohol as his analogy, but we all know there are many other ways to anesthetize ourselves; work, sex, sports, etc.–is not the same as satisfactorily justifying “God’s ways to man.” Despite attempts to blur it, the world is still “the old world yet.”
The next section of the poem, and the most meaningful to me, is often misunderstood to be negative and pessimistic, when, in fact it is the most positive and, I believe, celebratory of the entire poem. I don’t believe the poet is saying “Plan for the worst because then you won’t be disappointed” so much as he is advising, “Learn to accept and live with the mystery of life, and then nothing has the power to take you down” which could be seen as very liberating and full of hope. The phrase “Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure” doesn’t bemoan the presence of trouble so much as it acknowledges the possibility of luck and fortune . . . as long as we are willing to accept both. And the very essence of the entire poem is the promise that, “I will friend you, if I may.” Yes, it is important to accept and weather the tough times, but the reason we are here on earth, and the one bond that has the power to tie us all together, is that we can see each other through.
Finally the concluding story of Mithridates seems to celebrate a human’s senior years when, having learned these important truths, we can grow old in contentment and satisfaction, rich in our knowledge about life, while others around us, perhaps youth who haven’t learned what we’ve learned, will “stare aghast” at our lack of dissatisfaction with life. We “sate” when “healths go round” because we are “easy, smiling, seasoned sound,” a strength which results, like Mithridates, in a long life.
Sorry this is so long, but I’ve always wanted to share my feelings about my very favorite poem.