Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff

The first verse of this poem Terence friend is speaking to him about how sad all his poems are; all of them are about death. His friend is telling him he needs to lighten up and get drunk. His friend says, “It gives a chap the belly-ache. . . / To hear such tunes as killed the cow” (6,10). Terence’s friend is referring to Terence’s poetry. He is also referring to his poetry that it killed the cow bec

The third verse moves to a serious tone. Terence is saying how the world is full of evil that there is less good than evil. For instance he says, “Much good, but much less good than ill . . . / Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure . . .” (44,46). This is the theme of the poem. He is describing his view of the world, which is his poetry. He goes on to say that “And I will friend you, if I may . . . / In the dark and cloudy day” (57-28). He is saying that through his poetry that he will befriend you.

Each verse break in this poem is significant to the poem. The shift in speaker, tone, setting, time, idea, and place is what makes this poem so great. This poem illustrates that life is hard and a lot of people forget about their troubles temporarily by getting drunk and having fun. It also illustrates Housman poetry how it is sad and actually close to the reality of life. He ends this poem by demonstrating his point by giving us a taste of his poetry. “Terence, this is stupid stuff” is a poem that has many excellent examples of figurative language and poetic devices.

The forth verse changes setting, time,

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