No. 12, st. 4
โ
Lovers lying two and two
Ask not whom they sleep beside,
And the bridegroom all night through
Never turns him to the bride.
— A. E. Housman
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Lovers lying two and two
Ask not whom they sleep beside,
And the bridegroom all night through
Never turns him to the bride." in the context of "No. 12, st. 4" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "A. E. Housman" (Quotes, A Shropshire Lad (1896): A Shropshire Lad (1896) on Wikisource ยท Full text online at Project Gutenberg )
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
About A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 โ 30 April 1936), usually known as A.E. Housman, was an English poet and classical scholar, now best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad.
About A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 โ 30 April 1936), usually known as A.E. Housman, was an English poet and classical scholar, now best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad.
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