Housman was an English scholar, living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He taught classics at a number of British universities and published two volumes of poetry before his death in 1936.
Key terms: ballad, folk, rhyme, irony
Is My Team Ploughing
“Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?”
Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.
“Is football playing
Along the river shore,
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?”
Ay the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal.
“Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?”
Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.
“Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?”
Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man’s sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.
This poem is written in traditional folk ballad style with a light, musical feel. The poem has apparently been set to music several times, as well. Despite the light-hearted feel of the poem itself, the content is melancholy. The poem represents a conversation between a dead man and his still-living friend; the dead man is inquiring about the things he left behind (his farm, his football team, his girl, and finally his friend). At the end of the poem, it is implied that his girl is comforted by his friend, as they sleep together at night. The poem has a mixture of tones and moods... I am upset by the dead man's reluctance to let go of his life, and yet more by his friends almost annoyed responses to his questions. I'm not sure what to think about the new relationship between the friend and the girl-- this decision is forced on us because the dead man does not get a chance to respond.
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