Short biography of ae housman salt lake

In the early s, having learned that his old friend Moses Jackson was dying, Housman decided to assemble what he felt were his best unpublished poems into a second book, Last Poemswhich was an immediate success. Housman died in Cambridge inhaving achieved both academic and poetic success, yet remaining out of the spotlight. In the same year, a third collection of his poems, entitled More Poemswas released posthumously by his brother Laurence.

Housman may well cast a longer shadow over the history of poetry than any other writer who published just thin collections during his lifetime. Those two collections link the 19th century to 20th century. The release of A Shropshire Lad Alfred E. At Oxford he also fell in love for the first and only time. Housman was gay. Moses Jackson was not; he was a beefy rowing blue — someone who had earned the equivalent of an American varsity letter — up in Oxford on a science scholarship.

Homosexuality he called 'beastliness' or 'spooniness'. And that for Housman meant a lifetime of unfulfilled loneliness. Because I liked you better Than suits a man to say, It irked you and I promised To throw the thought away. In the year of his Finals, Housman was absorbed in Propertius a poet who wasn't even in the syllabuslazed away his time with Jackson perhapswas upset by his father's decline and feebleness maybe and over-confident possibly.

Certainly he failed Greats. For the next eleven years he was a clerk in the Patent Office, at first because Moses Jackson also worked there. They shared lodgings till Jackson sailed to India to become the headmaster of a school he also taught science and even designed the lab furniture. Eighteen months later he came home to marry, but Housman was not asked to the wedding, and in fact knew nothing about it until bride and groom were at sea.

They rarely met again. And then never after Jackson retired to British Columbia where he died of cancer in Meanwhile, Housman had been making a name for himself in the small world of textual criticism through spare time study in the British Museum. Inhe published A Shropshire Lada book of sixty three poems speaking of loss and loneliness, Redcoats, hangings and ale.

Larkin called him 'the poet of unhappiness. Orwell confused him with the class war. His poetry is notable for its simplicity, clarity and brevity — yet there is a depth to it as well. Some at UCL said he was scathing yet remote; a man who never troubled to remember the faces of the young women in his classes. At least one student said he never spoke to anybody individually.

Others gave different accounts, of course. Who knows? Teachers are there to be caricatured. With staff he was more congenial, even genial, and particularly good at dinner. His idea of a good night out was dinner at the Caf— Royal, a music hall, and supper in the Criterion Grille.

Short biography of ae housman salt lake

Now he had money he became bit of a gastronome and oenophile, holidaying in Paris for foodItaly for culture. If you'd asked Housman the great Socratic question: 'How should we live? Somewhere hidden in the errors of a classical text was the truth, the words the poet had written. Internet Arcade Console Living Room. Open Library American Libraries.

Search the Wayback Machine Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. Sign up for free Log in. Housman, a critical biography Bookreader Item Preview. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. When Last Poems was published init was an immediate success. A third volume, More Poems, was released posthumously in by his brother, Laurence, as was an edition of Housman's Complete Poems Despite acclaim as a scholar and a poet in his lifetime, Housman lived as a recluse, rejecting honors and avoiding the public eye.

He died in in Cambridge. Poets Access Register now and publish your best poems or read and bookmark your favorite popular famous poems. Home ».