17 Oct AE Housman

AE Housman (1859-1936) will always be remembered for A Shropshire Lad (1896): his collection of 63 poems that evoke timeless themes such as rustic serenity, unrequited love, fleeting youth, death and grief. Its revered place in the history of English poetry has been boosted by the 600-plus musical settings of the texts. Most notably, Ralph Vaughan Williams set six of Housman’s poems for his song cycle On Wenlock Edge (1909). Only one other collection of Housman’s poems was published during his life: Last Poems (1922). A final anthology was put together and published posthumously as More Poems (1936).

Appropriately, Housman’s ashes are buried in the lovely Shropshire town of Ludlow: near St Laurence’s Church. Judy and I visited Ludlow on our recent literary tour of England to find the Church. There’s a plaque marking Housman’s grave. Other commemorations of Housman include a handsome statue set on a pedestal in the center of Bromsgrove, the Worcestershire town where he grew up, and there’s a memorial window in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.