A. E. Housman
(1859-1936)

Died aged c. 77

Alfred Edward Housman (/ˈhaʊsmən/; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by publishing as a private scholar at first. Later Housman was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at the University of Cambridge. He is now acknowledged as one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars at any time. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius, and Lucan are still considered authoritative. In 1896 he emerged as a poet with A Shropshire Lad, a cycle in which he poses as an unsophisticated and melancholy youth. After a slow start, this captured the imagination of young readers, its preoccupation with early death appealing to them especially during times of war. In 1922 his Last Poems added to his reputation, which was further enhanced by the large number of song settings drawn from these collections. Following his death, further poems from his notebooks were published by his brother, Laurence. It was then too, though Housman had made no admission himself, that his sexual orientation began to be questioned.

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Commemorated on 5 plaques

A. E. Housman 1859-1936 poet and scholar wrote “A Shropshire Lad” while living here

Byron Cottage, 17 North Road, Highgate, N6 Haringey, London, United Kingdom where they wrote

Home of A. E. Housman scholar and poet in his boyhood from 1860 to 1873 and again from 1878 to 1882

Housman Hall, Bromsgrove School, Bromsgrove, United Kingdom where they lived

Birthplace of A. E. Housman scholar and poet 26th March 1859

Housmans House, Valley Road, Bromsgrove, United Kingdom where they was born (1859)

A. E. Housman poet & classical scholar, author of 'A Shropshire Lad' lived here 1885-1886

39 Northumberland Place, London, United Kingdom where they lived (1885-1886)

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) Scholar and Poet educated at Bromsgrove School 1870-1877

Cookes House, Worcester Road, Bromsgrove, United Kingdom where they educated (1870-1877)