I'm not sure when A.E. Housman wrote this poem, however, even at twenty I can
identify. This poem gives light to the risk of love by accentuating the pain of losing in
love.
The opening line, "When I was one and twenty" may be taken literally that he
was twenty one, but for reader's sake it may be better just for this to represent a young
age. An age where one is quick to give his heart away. An age where the normal college
guy doesn't give much thought to his choices or decisions. The second line, "I heard a
wise man say" sets up the rest of the poem. From this point on the man in…
