Brief Analysis of Terence， This is Stupid Stuff.docVIP

Brief Analysis of Terence， This is Stupid Stuff 　　【Abstract】A. E. Housman was an English classical scholar and poet. His poems are lyrical and epigrammatic in form， evoking the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. This poem belongs to his volume A Shropshire Lad， on the purpose of defending for the kind of poetry he wrote. 　　【Key words】epigrammatic； disappointment； defending 　　As most people like reading cheerful and optimistic material， this poem begins with someone’s complain that “the verse”（5） he makes “gives a chap the belly-ache”（6）； the voice also wonders why “Terence”（1） which is Housman’s poetic name for himself makes such “stupid stuff”（1）-his frustrating poetry， in this satire voice， his genre of poetry can dead a cow， and even kill a man. The voice even begs Terence to let people off the torture， acclaiming that “pretty friendship”（11） is to make a happy poetry to match the dancing people before they are tortured to mad by it. 　　In part two， Terence sends back the advice that “pipe a tune to dance to”（14） raised by the voice in part one. He indicates a “brisker pipes than poetry”（16） to liven things up： liquor. He uses drink as a contradicted proof to testify that escaping from reality by dancing or liquor makes no difference to the matter. And liquor is remarkable both in discovering truth and entertaining life as it is “livelier than Muse”（20） and does better in justifying God’s way to man than Milton who has declared this purpose in his epic poem Paradise Lost. But the pleasant truth the drunken fellows find through ale is a dream-like illusion after drunk： “look into the pewter pot to see the world as the world’s not”（25， 26）. Faith is everywhere， mischief nowhere， which is just the world the fellows want. The drunker still has conscious that “I have been to Ludlow fair”（29） for Ludlow beer and “left my necktie” when carry beer “half-way home”（31）； at that time， the drunker feels “the world seemed none so bad， and I myse