Alfred Edward Housman: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble

Alfred Edward Housman

“On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble” as printed in A Shropshire Lad (1896).

Alfred Edward Housman: Collected Lyrics Text 28 1896 · historical text
Public domainSong lyricsVictorian song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from A Shropshire Lad, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble;

His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves;

The gale, it plies the saplings double,

And thick on Severn snow the leaves.

Verse 2

'T would blow like this through holt and hanger

When Uricon the city stood:

'T is the old wind in the old anger,

But then it threshed another wood.

Verse 3

Then, 't was before my time, the Roman

At yonder heaving hill would stare:

The blood that warms an English yeoman,

The thoughts that hurt him, they were there.

Verse 4

There, like the wind through woods in riot,

Through him the gale of life blew high;

The tree of man was never quiet:

Then 't was the Roman, now 't is I.

Verse 5

The gale, it plies the saplings double,

It blows so hard, 't will soon be gone:

To-day the Roman and his trouble

Are ashes under Urieon.

Credits

Written by Alfred Edward Housman

Words by Alfred Edward Housman. Historical text published in A Shropshire Lad (1896); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

A Shropshire Lad (1896), “On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble”

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) died more than 89 years ago; his works entered the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions in 2007, and the 1896 first edition is in the public domain in the United States. Entries credited to other hands are held unless their author died more than 70 years ago.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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