Who wrote the poem

[harper]

Who wrote the poem which contained the line:

'Twenty will not come again'

[RevShirls]

It was written by the Shropshire Lad (George Butterworth) and the poem was one of six. You can read more about it (and the text of the poem) here:

http://www.kathrynwhitney.net/butterworth.htm

[woofgang]

Sorry, Rev,but I thought  that AE Houseman wrote the words and published them as "A Shropshire Lad" then Butterworth set them to music??

[harper]

Bless you both for your help. I am mortified...I live in Shropshire and couldn't manage to find the answer.

[woofgang]

no probs, I have a cherry tree in my garden, a wild one, the same as Houseman wrote about and it really is the "lovliest of trees" beautifully scented too

[RevShirls]

Sorry, harper. Woofgang is absolutely correct. It was Housman who wrote the poem. I wrongly associated Butterworth with writing the words, when it was in fact the music. I guess it goes back to my music classes at school in the long and distant past.