A.E. Housman, born Alfred Edward Housman, in March 1859, is best known for his simple style, memorable and moving images that made his work popular during his lifetime. His collection A Shropshire Lad, a cycle of 63 poems, is his most widely read. It has sustained his reputation since his death in 1936 and includes poems like ‘Oh Who Is That Young Sinner,’ ‘1887,’ and ‘To an Athlete Dying Young.’ Housman is also remembered for his career as a classical scholar and his role as a professor of Latin at Cambridge University. His final collection was published in 1922, titled Last Poems.
‘Easter Hymn’ by A. E. Houseman unearths the contradictions between religious teachings and their implementation. The poet is juxtaposing biblical moments of violence with modern ones to highlight the incomplete nature of Christ’s promise to save humanity from itself.
If in that Syrian garden, ages slain,
You sleep, and know not you are dead in vain,
Nor even in dreams behold how dark and bright
Ascends in smoke and fire by day and night
‘Because I Liked You Better’ by A. E. Housman is a love poem that taps on the theme of unrequited love. Like his “A Shropshire Lad” poems, it also touches on the theme of death.
‘Bredon Hill’ by A.E. Housman depicts an initially heartwarming and later heartbreaking story of a couple torn apart when one of them dies suddenly on a cold Christmas night.
‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ by A. E. Housman describes a traumatizing story of two brothers and how one of them accidentally met his end in a wheat field at the hand of the other.
‘He would not stay for me, and who can wonder’ appears in A. E. Housman’s “Additional Poems”. It taps on the themes of separation and leave-taking.
‘Here dead lie we because we did not choose’ by A.E. Housman is a powerful, short poem about World War I. It utilizes a speaker, or group of speakers, who have passed away.
‘Loveliest of Trees’ by A.E. Housman is a joyful nature poem in which the speaker describes how powerful the image of cherry blossom trees is in his life. He takes a great deal of pleasure from looking at them.
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
‘Oh Who is that Young Sinner’ by A.E. Houseman is an important poem that addresses the fear and hatred of homosexuality in England in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?
And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists?
And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?
Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.
‘Terence, This is Stupid Stuff’ by A. E. Housman addresses a speaker’s poetry, how he feels about another’s opinion, and alludes to critiques of Housman’s own literary works.
‘They Say My Verse is Sad’ by A.E. Housman is a direct, two stanza poem. In it, Housman describes why he writes poetry and who he writes for.
‘To an Athlete Dying Young’ by A. E. Housman describes the death of a youthful man who is celebrated for his glorious passing and remembered for his loss, rather than his athletic achievements.
A. E. Housman’s poem ‘When green buds hang in the elm’ is about a speaker’s attachment to nature and how it reminds him of his own mortality. It appears in the poetry collection Last Poems (1922).
When green buds hang in the elm like dust
And sprinkle the lime like rain,
Forth I wander, forth I must,
And drink of life again.
‘When I Was One-and-Twenty’ by A. E. Housman is a relatable poem that explores how easy it is to make mistakes in one’s love life, even when one knows exactly what they should do.
‘With rue my heart is laden’ by A.E. Housman is a short and simple poem in which a speaker looks back on what they’ve lost from their youth.
In Housman’s ‘XII: An Epitaph,’ readers will hear from a speaker who knows he’s about to die and is happy to accept his fate.
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