Holder

English

12 October, 23:49

Read this excerpt and complete the sentences that follow.

A Shropshire Lad

by A. E. Housman (excerpt)

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

"Give crowns and pounds and guineas

But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free."

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard him say again,

"The heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

'Tis paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue."

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

The central theme of the poem is:

A. How one should spend money

B. How one should accumulate wealth

C. How one should attain wisdom

D. How one should invest in love.

In the end, the poet (doubts, agrees with, resents, considers) the wise man's views