Annotated Webliography

Grimes, Linda sue. Housman’s sage advice “when I was one-and-twenty”: 25 Oct. 2009. 4 March 2009 < http://british-poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/housmans_sage_advice >

Grimes begins the article by explaining the poems rimed stanzas and time scheme. She then goes on to explain the first stanza. She talks about each line and describes it so it can be easily understood. She describes the line “Give crowns and pounds and guineas/but not your heart away” she also describes the line about rubies and pearls. Gimes then quotes “but I was one-and-twenty no use to talk to me” she tells how most young people don’t take advice from others because they would rather find out things on their own. She finishes the article by explaining that the speaker did have regrets about not taking the advice once given to him.

I feel that this is a valued source. Linda sue Grimes does a great job at breaking down the poem and helping explain it so the readers will understand it better. She took numerous quotes from the poem and briefly stated their meanings. This site also listed links to other poems by Housman. I think this was a great finishing touch because it gives the readers easy access to explore other poems that may interest them.


“When I was one-and-twenty (Themes)”: 1995. 4 March 2009 < www.answers.com/topic/when-i-was-one-and-twenty-poem-4 >

This article is about the poem “when I was one-and-twenty”. It gives a summary about the poem and its meaning. It doesn’t give just one meaning of the poems lines it gives several. A poem can be interpreted in many different ways and this article shows that. For example, in the first paragraph the author gives two reasons why the young man did not take the advice given to him, since there is no real evidence of why the young man did not take the advice. The article continues like this until it has reached the ending of the poem. The article then gives topics for further study about the poem, while given some facts about. The article ends with “Media Adaptations”, links to different sites that have poems written by Houseman and others.

I think this article is in deed a valued source. The author summarized the poem while describing each line and given several different point of view. This article also gives helpful study tips about this particular poem. It also includes some of the poems history and facts about when it was published.


Gale. Exploring poetry. Poets Corner. “Explanation: when I was One-and-Twenty”:1997. 4 March 2009< http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/poets/poems/wheniwas_ex.htm >

This article has taken the lines of the poem and broken them up into groups. They start with lines 1-4. They tell how the speaker was warned by a wise old man to not give his heart away. They go into detail about what a “wise old man” is considered to be. It goes on to talk about lines 5-6. The writer of the article continues to talk about what the wise old man had said to the speaker. They go into detail about each quote the wise old man had warned the speaker about. Next, the article explains lines 7 & 8. In these lines the speak tells how when he was one-and-twenty he did not listen to any advice given to him. Lines 9-14 the writer of the article speaks of how the young man did not take the wise old man’s advice and its consequences. It also goes into more detail about the true meaning of the statements “fancy free” and “endless rue”. In the final two lines, 15-16 the speaker tells of how he is now one year old and understands what the wise of man was trying to tell him. He regrets his decision because it caused him pain and sorrow. The article quotes “oh tis true tis true” and explains that Housman’s reason for repeating these words is to show the intensity of his regrets.

I felt this article was very helpful in explaining the true meaning of Housman’s “When I Was One-and-Twenty” It talked about each line of the poem and gave detail about its meaning. It also had links at the end of each paragraph that would lead you back to that particular part of the poem. It made it easier to refer back and compare the actual lines with the article.