Because I Liked you Better A.E. Housman By Meijie Hu

   Because I Liked you Better is written from the poet’s point of view, this can be shown as the poet frequently uses ‘I” and the fact he is directing it to someone. It is written like as he is writing a letter to a lost friend, it has a personal point of view from poets perspective.

The poem is broken down to 4 stanzas, it is straightforward and the language is plain so readers can understand what he is talking about.

The tone created in the poem is different, the first half has a loving tone where the poet expresses his last moment with his friend and this is shown by their last words they may have exchanged with each other such as “goodbye” and “forget me”. The last 2 stanzas, the tone is more firm and secure and he is telling us he doesn't care anymore, this is shown as he uses imagery of death, the tones between the two stanza’s may be different as the third stanza talks about death which can relate to his friends death or that he may have moved on with his life.

 The point of view is a first person narrative from the poets perspective, the tone and language style the poet has used can show us this is a letter to his friend, this poem also gives us a hint that the poet is homosexual and his letter like poem is to express his love or to keep his promise to his friend that he may never see him again, this is shown by the fact that his friend says goodbye and forget me, which proves the poets homosexuality even more as the poet may have confessed to him and the friend doesn’t want any part in it.

 The title of the poem immediately gives us a hint this may be a love letter to a lost one or one he cannot see again.

   The pattern of this poem is that each stanza gives us a ABCB rhythm, each stanza is separate and ideas of the poets love and his promise he kept to his friend follows on through each stanza. There is a repetition of the word “you”, this could prove a fact he still cares about the friend even though they may not see each other and that he misses him.

The opening of the poem is a introduction of the poet expressing how he kept his promise to his loved friend. This promise may be that the friend doesn’t want any part in the homosexual relationship with the poet and doesn’t want to see him anymore.

The first two stanzas and the last stanza is completely different to the third stanza, while the first two stanzas are about the poet expressing his last days with his love and his promise he kept, the third stanza shows us he doesn't care anymore, this is ironic as he is directing this poem to the friend showing the readers he does care. The last stanza the poet starts talking about the promise he kept.

 The language used is formal as it is directed towards one person, it is connected with the point of view as it is written like a letter from the poet to his love.

 There is not much imagery present in this poem, the only imagery present is about coldness and death, which is shown in the third stanza as “the dead man’s knoll, you pass”, the imagery of coldness and death in the third stanza can be related to him not caring about or feeling nothing of his lover anymore.

 The imagery of death may symbolise the death of the friend and that this whole poem may be about him missing his friend and how they could've lived a good life together. The death of the friend can also be shown by the fact he talk’s of the headstone’s name.

 Death can be related to not feeling anything because when you are dead, your body is cold and you cannot feel a thing.

 There is a bit of irony, this is mainly related to the last two stanzas. The irony can be seen as in the last two stanzas, the poet is talking about how he feels nothing of his lover and he doesn’t care anymore, this may be due to the fact that everyone moves on with their lives and they don't let things such as love hold them back. This is ironic as the poem is directed towards the lover, and he still talks about the promise in his last stanza which shows he still cares for him.