In A Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman recreates a nostalgic world of lost love, lost youth, thwarted friendships, unfaithful girls, male bonding, untimely death and the uncertain glories of being a soldier. The poems deal with the exuberance of youth 'its aspirations and disappointments, its na've certainties and tragic mistakes. Though written in 1895, it struck a chord with the generation of young men who fought in World War I. It was said that every 'Tommy' had a copy in his knapsack. It has never been out of print.
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One of the foremost classicists of his age this collection of Housman's poetry is read by V.C. Clinton-Baddeley, C. Day Lewis, Robert Donat and David Moore
A Shropshire Lad presents A. E. Housman's reflections on love, death, and the eternal uncertainty of the human condition, placed in an idealized world of rural England, unpolluted by the taint of the city, but still a place where love can fail, evil can come to good people, and human beings can find themselves torn deeply by conflicting desires and feelings. Housman had great faith in his work even when he could not find a publisher and had to bring it out himself. His faith was rewarded. The volume has become a classic of English literature and an inspiration to musicians and composers, who have set many of his poems to music. He was not prolific; his total output consists of this volume and one other (Last Poems), but his achievement places him among the world's great poets.
A Freshwater Seas production.
Housman himself knew that his output as a poet would not be large. In his preface to this volume, he wrote, rather touchingly: "I publish these poems, few though they are, because it is not likely that I shall ever be impelled to write much more." He pulled Last Poems together because his life-long friend, Moses Jackson, was dying and Housman wanted Jackson to be able to read these poems before Jackson passed away.
The work in this volume is more varied in form and content than in his first book, and shows a change of heart, a greater acceptance of the human condition, along with a more impersonal voice.
His sense of the finality of life is strong: "Dead clay that did me kindness/I can do none to you/But only wear for breastknot/The flower of sinner's rue." Yet, if anything, his voice is gentler, his spirit calmer and more accepting, and his sense of the eternal stronger than in his first book.
A Freshwater Seas production.
The sun has descended below the far horizon. The inky blackness of night begins to envelop the land. Day has gone and the nocturnal times reveal themselves. But above the dark blanket the moon, whether waxing or waning, stands sentry and around it vast clouds and swirls of stars regiment themselves. We look up in awe and wonder, frail beneath their vista.Our gloried poets are on hand though to capture word and deed, emotion and feeling, friend and foe. Among our ranks of astounding talents are Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Hardy, Poe, Shelley, Longfellow and many more beside. Their descriptions capture what they see and feel and describe as perhaps only a poet can. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.
