A. E. Housman's Shropshire

Abstract

IN 1896 A. E. Housman was an erudite Professor of Latin at London University with a growing reputation both for his translations from the more obscure classical authors and for acrid criticism of scholars whose work failed to maintain his high standards. The same year his book of verse, A Shropshire Lad, was published, causing his name to be inextricably linked with Ludlow, the Wrekin, Wenlock Edge, Shrewsbury and the River Severn. Whilst the book was slow to gain popularity, it eventually attained the rare honour of being read by those who normally did not read poetry, its public undoubtedly widened when the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams put some of the poems to music in his famous song‐cycle ‘On Wenlock Edge’. The general public acclaim conferred on a somewhat reluctant Housman the title of ‘The Shropshire Poet’.

Citation

Offord, J. (1976), "A. E. Housman's Shropshire", Library Review, Vol. 25 No. 8, pp. 323-325. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012645