On moonlit heath and lonesome bank
A.E.Housman
1859 to 1936
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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On moonlit heath and lonesome bank
A better lad, if things went right,
And wish my friend as sound a sleep
A hundred years ago.
And sharp the link of life will snap,
So here I'll watch the night and wait
Or wakes, as may betide,
And not the stroke of nine;
To men that die at morn.
The whistles blow forlorn,
Than strangling in a string.
And high amongst the glimmering sheep
And naked to the hangman's noose
When he will hear the stroke of eight
And yon the gallows used to clank
The sheep beside me graze;
The morning clocks will ring
And dead on air will stand
Heels that held up as straight a chap
To see the morning shine,
Fast by the four cross ways.
Than most that sleep outside.
As lads' I did not know,
The flocks by moonlight there,
They hang us now in Shrewsbury jail:
The dead man stood on air.
There sleeps in Shrewsbury jail to-night,
That shepherded the moonlit sheep
A careless shepherd once would keep
As treads upon the land.
A neck God made for other use
And trains all night groan on the rail