review or explication on the poem "Terence, this is stupid stuff by A.E. Housman?

Question

this is my first paper on a poem, im finding it hard or don't really understand how to write a explicaton of this poem HELP HELP.

Answer 1

basically, Housman is writing about how being drunk, makes him a better writer.

however, being drunk does not make Terence a better writer.
in the first stanza, he says that his friends' poetry gives him a stomach ache. then follows a quote of his pals poem...about the dead cow.

second stanza is all about beer. the making of beer, where to buy beer. why beer is so wonderful.
hop-yards....fields where hops are grown {hops are used to make beer}

Burton built on Trent, is a market city built on the Trent river. probably full of ale houses.

"Livelier liquor than the Muse", Beer is better at making him think of things to write than his poetic muse

"And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God’s ways to man. " Milton wrote Paradise Lost, an epic poem about God, Adam and Eve...Housman is saying that beer will give you a more clear understanding of the relationship between god and man, more than the Great Poet himself {milton}.

The rest of the second poem, he writes about drinking Ludlow beer, feeling that the world looks better at the bottom of his drinking mug, passes out in a ditch to wake up in the morning depressed with having to face the real world Not drunk.

Third stanza, he is being depressing.

"I’d face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good. "
If he has to face the world sober, than he will be prepared for he ill of the world, the bad...and not the good, because there is more {ill} bad things than good things.

even his poetry does not sell as well as beer, meaning Beer is better than Housman's poetry
"’Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale: "

Fouth stanza is a metaphor. In this metaphor he is trying to justify his continual drinking {beer as poision} is beneficial to his longevity.
this metaphor is set in a little story about King Mithridates, who as a caution to his own safety, sampled All the Poision on earth, because he knew that all kings fall victim to poisioning at one time or another. And when the people at his table did eventually try to poision the king, the king was fine and they were not. the other people died from arsenic and strychnine poisioning.
the king dies old....therefore so will Housman.

hope this helped.

Answer 2

Well, Dear Summer,

Housman's jab at the working class who cannot write poetry, and should drink beer instead of impressing people with their doggerel is not an easy poem on which to start your analysis of poetry.

To explicate is to make clear, to explain, to put into plain English. And while you are explaining, it is certain that you will gain knowledge of the various rhetorical tropes and allusions used in the poem.

For example, Mithridates was synonymous with antidote, and mithridatism meant taking low doses of a poison to build immunity to it. This is an example of an allusion. And the strongest tropes here are Parable, Irony, Analogy, and Metaphor.

For example, for irony, see these 2 lines:

"Pretty friendship ’tis to rhyme
Your friends to death before their time "

OK, now place a dictionary of Poetry at your fingers, read the poem line by line, and try to determine how to say what Housman said, but more plainly, for your readers. Or, try the various homework help sites.

Good Luck.

Here, for the benefit of the readers, is the entire poem:

A. E. Housman (1859–1936).

Terence, this is stupid stuff (1896 )


‘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, 5
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. 10
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, 15
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, 20
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 25
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, 30
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, 35
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, 40
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 45
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: 50
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 55
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, 60
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all the springs to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more, 65
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; 70
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. 75
Mithridates, he died old.


Late Edit: Well, I never heard the explanation below, but rather the idea that Housman contrasts the virtues of drinking alcohol versus writing bad poetry, and especially versus reading tragic poetry. Housman seems to be saying that drinking is more enjoyable than.the cost of building immunity (a la Mithridates), to bad poetry.

But, what the Lady below says, seems to recommend itself in a quick study, and my opinions are not carved in stone. We should think on this idea more, and lay our thanks here softly.

Answer 3

Do you mean explanation? Well, what does the poem say to you, does the meaning of the poem still hold true for today as much as it did when it was written, what is it really trying to say?