On Wenlock Edge

• Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment in the Shropshire Hills covered by deciduous woodland. The poet imagines gales beating the trees on Wenlock Edge, and realises that these are the same storms that were experienced in the Roman times. The gales represent the struggles of man, which will soon pass.
• On Wenlock Edge


  • 5 verses in Housman's text
  • Overall structure is A-A-B-B-A/B
  • Last verse combines both A and B elements
• Bars 1-16


  1. Introduction

  2. Instrumental intro with descending parallel first inversion chords
• 1. On Wenlock Edge


  • Tenor voice, over pentatonic style ostinato accompaniment
  • More dissonance at the word 'gale'
  • Descending chromatic melody for the last line of the verse
• Bars 16-31


  1. A: 'Twould blow like this

  2. Modified repeat of the music for the first verse

  3. Instrumental introduction now starts in the middle of the bar
• Bars 32-43


  1. B: Then, 'twas before my time

  2. New music for the introduction to the third verse

  3. Extended trills are an important feature of the accompaniment

  4. Mysterious chromatic phrases highlight the words 'heaving hill'

  5. Agitated music to highlight the 'hurtful thoughts'
• Bars 43-55


  1. B: There, like the wind

  2. Modified repeat of the third verse music
• Bars 55-end


  1. A/B: The gale, it plies

  2. Music combines elements of the music from both first and third verses

  3. Instrumental music from the start of the first verse is heard at the start

  4. Vocal melody from the start of verse 1 is heard at low pitch in the left hand of the piano part

  5. Sliding chromatic harmonies of the middle verses are heard next
• Parallel chords (e.g. bar 2 of the first song, where there are parallel first inversion chords).
• Sul ponticello technique is used from bar 57 of the first song. This means that the string players use the bow very close to the bridge to produce an almost unnatural metallic tone quality. The technique is a word painting technique to illustrate the gale in the text. When the players return to normal bowing technique Vaughan Williams uses the term naturale (bar 62).
• The modal style of the folk song-influenced melodic writing is immediately apparent in the first song. The opening vocal line has a very restricted note range – only four letter name pitches, before the F on the word ‘Wrekin’ introduces a fifth note, creating a pentatonic melody. Then there are repeated notes to emphasise the power of the gale (bars 11-12).
• The style changes dramatically after the forte climax on the top G in bar 13, as the voice descends chromatically. This sudden change adds to the drama of the storm. All these features are repeated of course in the second verse. Repeated notes and chromaticism are features of the next section from bar 34.
• The introduction of ‘On Wenlock Edge’ also includes some whole tone elements.
• The recitative style melodic line at the beginning of the second of the songs is clearly Dorian in character. The standard untransposed Dorian mode is D to D with a distinctive flat third and seventh. As in the first song, a simple diatonic modal beginning leads to a more chromatic style. The beginning of the song is mainly conjunct, but later there are larger leaps (bars 14-15).
• Triplets and sextuplets are heard from the beginning of the first song.
• The sextuplet semiquavers at bar 3 produce a cross-rhythm with the semiquavers in the piano left hand.
• From bar 31 there are rippling hemidemisemiquavers in the piano part.