Alfred Edward Housman (/ ' h a s m n / ; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems' wistful evocation of doomed youth in the English countryside, in spare language and distinctive imagery, appealed strongly to late Victorian and Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-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.
Poems are below...
Articles about A E Housman or articles that mention A E Housman.
Here are a few random quotes by A E Housman.
See also: All A E Housman Quotes
When I was one-and-twenty, I heard a wise man say, Give pounds and crowns and guineas, But not your heart away.' Give pearls away and rubies, But keep your fancy free.' But I was one-and-twenty, No use to talk to me. Go to Quote / Comment
Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time. Go to Quote / Comment
Nature not content with denying him the ability to think, has endowed him with the ability to write. Go to Quote / Comment
The brisk fond lackey to fetch and carry, The true, sick-hearted slave,... Go to Quote / Comment
And malt does more than Milton can To justify God's ways to man. Go to Quote / Comment