Think No More, Lad



Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly:
Why should men make haste to die?
Empty heads and tongues a-talking
Make the rough road easy walking,
And the feather pate of folly
Bears the falling sky.

Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking
Spins the heavy world around.
If young hearts were not so clever,
Oh, they would be young for ever:
Think no more; 'tis only thinking
Lays lads underground.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 20, 2023

21 sec read
446

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCCAB CDEECD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 392
Words 70
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

Alfred Edward Housman

Alfred Edward Housman, usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad.  more…

All Alfred Edward Housman poems | Alfred Edward Housman Books

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