Shropshire Lad and Last Poems

Shropshire Lad and Last Poems Synopsis

Alfred Edward Housman was an English poet and classical scholar whose work became a major force in turn of the century English poetry. Unlike his contemporaries, Housman's poetry does not qualify as Romantic, Victorian, or Modernist, and is not overly sentimental or optimistic; instead, his deeply pessimistic and ironic poetry, written clearly and succinctly, earned Housman recognition as one of the foremost classicists of his time. His best-known work, "e;A Shropshire Lad"e;, is a cycle of 63 poems set in a half-imaginative Shropshire, and explores themes of death, the fleetingness of love, and the passing of youth. The poems became increasingly popular at the time of World War I because of their depiction of brave English soldiers. In the early 1920s, Housman's closest friend and old Oxford roommate, Moses Jackson, was dying, prompting Housman to compile his "e;Last Poems"e; for Jackson to read. The forty-one previously unpublished poems were so titled because Housman felt his inspiration had been exhausted. These two volumes are combined together here in this representative collection of Housman's works.

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