The Immortal Part (by A.E. Housman).

This poem is found in Housman’s

A Shropshire Lad, it is number 43: 

When I meet the morning beam 

Or lay me down at night to dream, 

I hear my bones within me say,

‘Another night, another day.

When shall this slough of sense be cast, 

This dust of thoughts be laid at last,

The man of flesh and soul be slain

And the man of bone remain?

‘This tongue that talks, these lungs that shout,

These thews that hustle us about,

This brain that fills the skull with schemes,

And its humming hive of dreams, –

‘These to-day are proud in power

And lord it in their little hour:

The immortal bones obey control

Of dying flesh and dying soul.

’Tis long till eve and morn are gone:

Slow the endless night comes on,

And late to fulness grows the birth

That shall last as long as earth.

‘Wanderers eastward, wanderers west,

Know you why you cannot rest?

’Tis that every mother’s son

Travails with a skeleton.

‘Lie down in the bed of dust;

Bear the fruit that bear you must;

Bring the eternal seed to light,

And morn is all the same as night.

‘Rest you so from trouble sore,

Fear the heat o’ the sun no more,

Nor the snowing winter wild,

Now you labour not with child.

‘Empty vessel, garment cast,

We that wore you long shall last.

– Another night, another day.’

So my bones within me say.

Therefore they shall do my will

To-day while I am master still,

And flesh and soul, now both are strong,

Shall hale the sullen slaves along,

Before this fire of sense decay,

This smoke of thought blow clean away,

And leave with ancient night alone

The steadfast and enduring bone.

The poem, with stressed

  syllables underlined:

When I meet the morning beam 

Or lay me down at night to dream, 

I hear my bones within me say,

‘Another night, another day.

When shall this slough of sense be cast, 

This dust of thoughts be laid at last,

The man of flesh and soul be slain

And the man of bone remain?

‘This tongue that talks, these lungs that shout,

These thews that hustle us about,

This brain that fills the skull with schemes,

And its humming hive of dreams, –

‘These to-day are proud in power

And lord it in their little hour:

The immortal bones obey control

Of dying flesh and dying soul.

’Tis long till eve and morn are gone:

Slow the endless night comes on,

And late to fulness grows the birth

That shall last as long as earth.

‘Wanderers eastward, wanderers west,

Know you why you cannot rest?

’Tis that every mother’s son

Travails with a skeleton.

‘Lie down in the bed of dust;

Bear the fruit that bear you must;

Bring the eternal seed to light,

And morn is all the same as night.

‘Rest you so from trouble sore,

Fear the heat o’ the sun no more,

Nor the snowing winter wild,

Now you labour not with child.

‘Empty vessel, garment cast,

We that wore you long shall last.

– Another night, another day.’

So my bones within me say.

Therefore they shall do my will

To-day while I am master still,

And flesh and soul, now both are strong,

Shall hale the sullen slaves along,

Before this fire of sense decay,

This smoke of thought blow clean away,

And leave with ancient night alone

The steadfast and enduring bone.

Analysis:

In this poem, the “sullen”bones of

the speaker think his life is 

pointless and are anxious to have

it over and be free. This of course

is the view of the speaker that

he is giving to his bones. It seems

Housman goes on a bit too long

hammering the point it, by expres-

sing his idea in different ways.

I assume he thought some verses

were too funny to not include.

© C.A. MacLennan 2024