[3] (Cloud-shapes observed by travellers in the East.)
_A. E. Housman_
A. E. Housman was born March 26, 1859, and, after a classical
education, he was, for ten years, a Higher Division Clerk in H. M.
Patent Office. Later in life, he became a teacher.
Housman has published only one volume of original verse, but that
volume (_A Shropshire Lad_) is known wherever modern English poetry is
read. Originally published in 1896, when Housman was almost 37, it is
evident that many of these lyrics were written when the poet was much
younger. Echoing the frank pessimism of Hardy and the harder cynicism
of Heine, Housman struck a lighter and more buoyant note. Underneath
his dark ironies, there is a rustic humor that has many subtle
variations. From a melodic standpoint, _A Shropshire Lad_ is a
collection of exquisite, haunting and almost perfect songs.
Housman has been a professor of Latin since 1892 and, besides his
immortal set of lyrics, has edited Juvenal and the books of Manilius.