This poem is found in Housman’s
More Poems, it is poem number 13:
I lay me down and slumber
And every morn revive.
Whose is the night-long breathing
That keeps a man alive?
When I was off to dreamland
And left my limbs forgot,
Who stayed at home to mind them,
And breathed when I did not?
. . . . .
– I waste my time in talking,
No heed at all takes he,
My kind and foolish comrade
That breathes all night for me.
The poem with the stressed
syllables underlined:
I lay me down and slumber
And every morn revive.
Whose is the night-long breathing
That keeps a man alive?
When I was off to dreamland
And left my limbs forgot,
Who stayed at home to mind them,
And breathed when I did not?
. . . . .
– I waste my time in talking,
No heed at all takes he,
My kind and foolish comrade
That breathes all night for me.
Analysis:
This is a favourite theme of
Housman: looking at himself
and wondering how he keeps
living. The fact that this other
self is seen as "comrade" fits
with the theme of male
friendship that also is a strong
vein running through his work.
You could say that it is this
sense of friendship that keeps
him alive.
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