The lines 'When I was one and twenty I heard a wise man say...' are from which poem?

The lines 'When I was one and twenty I heard a wise man say...' are from which poem?

• A. Sonnet 43
• B. The World Is Too Much With Us
• C. Prometheus Unbound
• D. When I Was One-and-Twenty

Answer: (D)

Opening lines often point to a specific poem, and this particular line starts a short lyric by A. E. Housman, titled When I Was One-and-Twenty, from the collection A Shropshire Lad. The poem sets up a moment of youthful advice—being told not to give away your heart or your wealth—and then the speaker reflects on how experience later reveals the truth behind that counsel. The plain, direct voice and the focus on how age changes the understanding of love and loss are hallmarks of Housman’s style, making this line a clear fit for that title. The other works come from different poets and do not begin with this line, so they don’t match the source.

Opening lines often point to a specific poem, and this particular line starts a short lyric by A. E. Housman, titled When I Was One-and-Twenty, from the collection A Shropshire Lad. The poem sets up a moment of youthful advice—being told not to give away your heart or your wealth—and then the speaker reflects on how experience later reveals the truth behind that counsel. The plain, direct voice and the focus on how age changes the understanding of love and loss are hallmarks of Housman’s style, making this line a clear fit for that title. The other works come from different poets and do not begin with this line, so they don’t match the source.