A E Housman

A Shropshire Lad (1896) is a cycle of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman. A Shropshire Lad was first published in 1896 at Housman's own expense after several publishers had turned it down, much to the surprise of his colleagues and students. At first the book sold slowly, but during the Second Boer War, Housman's nostalgic depiction of rural life and young men's early deaths struck a chord with English readers and the book became a bestseller. Later, World War I further increased its popularity. Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 - 30 April 1936), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900. Their wistful evocation of doomed youth in the English countryside, in spare language and distinctive imagery, appealed strongly to late Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian taste, and to many early twentieth century English composers (beginning with Arthur Somervell) both before and after the First World War. Through its song-setting the poetry became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself. Housman was counted one of the foremost classicists of his age, and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars of all time. He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at UCL and later, at Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are still considered authoritative.

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and Nominated for the 2017 PEN/Bograd Weld Prize for Biography A captivating exploration of A. E. Housman and the influence of his particular brand of Englishness A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad made little impression when it was first published in 1896 but has since become one of the best-loved volumes of poetry in the English language. Its evocation of the English coun - tryside, thwarted love, and a yearning for things lost is as potent today as it was more than a century ago, and the book has never been out of print. In Housman Country, Peter Parker explores the lives of A. E. Housman and his most famous book, and in doing so shows how A Shropshire Lad has permeated English life and culture since its publication. The poems were taken to war by soldiers who wanted to carry England in their pockets, were adapted by composers trying to create a new kind of English music, and have influ - enced poetry, fiction, music, and drama right up to the present day. Everyone has a personal “land of lost content” with “blue remembered hills,” and Housman has been a tangible and far-reaching presence in a startling range of work, from the war poets and Ralph Vaughan Williams to Inspector Morse and Morrissey. Housman Country is a vivid exploration of England and Englishness, in which Parker maps out terrain that is as historical and emotional as it is topographical.

This is a new study and interpretation of the much loved poet, A. E. Housman, best known for his poem A Shropshire Lad. But there was so much more to this enigmatic person, our greatest classicist who penned some of the loveliest poetry ever written. In this book, Waine investigates Housman's enigmatic and brilliant mind, and shows, with empathy and wit, how he located a complicated path on which to walk and flourish, despite the many brambles that lay on all sides of his lonely journey. W.H. Auden famously described A.E. Housman as keeping 'tears like dirty postcards in a drawer'. An element of mystery has always surrounded the life of this intensely private man. In his quirky but compelling account of Housman's development into both a renowned classical scholar (even after failing his undergraduate degree in Classics!) and the best selling author of A Shropshire Lad, Peter Waine casts fresh light on the oddities and obsessions that resulted in the rebarbative Housman 'persona', as well as in some of the most beautiful and moving lyrics in the English language. Richly detailed and elegantly written, this is a fascinating guide to the work of a poet whose admirers ranged from Oscar Wilde to Randall Jarrell. Book jacket.

In this series a contemporary poet selects and introduces another poet of a different generation whom they have particularly admired. This selection of A.E. Housman poems are selected by Alan Hollinghurst.

A complete collection, in three volumes, of the classical articles and reviews of A. E. Housman. These papers were originally published between 1882 and 1936 in a variety of academic journals, many of which are now difficult to obtain. The editors have checked and, where necessary, supplemented and updated all the references and corrected errors in them, but have otherwise presented each paper, in full, with the minimum of editorial comment. At the end of Volume III there are very elaborate and comprehensive indexes of passages, words and topics discussed by Houston. The Kleine Schriften of great scholars are among the most important and useful tools of the classicist's trade. This edition will be of the first importance among such collections and will provide an essential work of reference. Housman's known virtues as a textual critic are decisively confirmed and emphasized now that his papers can be seen in one complete and connected sequence.

Housman's melodic and memorable poems have been popular for over a century. He writes typically of lost love, of the brevity of happiness, of young soldiers doomed to die. Housman speaks with two voices: the smooth texts conceal a dark sub-text. This tormented and secretive man wrote poems alive with indirect self-disclosure.

A. E. Housman, romantic poet and classical scholar, is best-known as the author of A Shropshire Lad and the meticulous editor of Manilius, the Latin poet of astronomy. In this first full biography, Richard Perceval Graves convincingly reconciles the two apparently conflicting sides of Housman's personality, and reassesses the reputation of a man who was something of a mystery even to his closest friends. 'This is bound to become the standard life.' John Carey, Sunday Times 'Dispassionate and well-researched.' Philip Larkin, Guardian