There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, `Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free.' But I was one-and-twenty No use to talk to me. When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again, `The heart out of the bosom Was never given in vain; 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty And sold for endless rue.' And I am two-and-twenty And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns against giving your heart away too easily, highlighting the emotional cost of love.
In this reflective poem, A. E. Housman recounts the wise advice he received about the importance of guarding one's heart when it comes to love and relationships. At the age of twenty-one, he is advised to remain emotionally free and not give away his affections too readily, as doing so can lead to sorrow and regret. The speaker ultimately comes to understand the wisdom in this advice, recognizing the emotional price that comes with love.
Themes
LoveHeartEmotionWisdomAdvice
In practice
Example use cases
In a wedding speech, one might say, 'As the wise poet once wrote, 'Give your heart wisely.'
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes →Who made the world I cannot tell; 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, I never soiled with such a deed.
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I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history.
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Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
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And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.
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Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking_x000D_ _x000D_ Spins the heavy world around.
A. E. HousmanRead
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