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A. E. Housman
Photo portrait by E. O. Hoppé, 1910
Photo portrait by E. O. Hoppé, 1910
Born Alfred Edward Housman
(1859-03-26)26 March 1859
Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England
Died 30 April 1936(1936-04-30) (aged 77)
Cambridge, England
Pen name A. E. Housman
Occupation Classicist and poet
Nationality British
Alma mater St John's College, Oxford
Genre Lyric poetry
Notable works A Shropshire Lad
Relatives Clemence Housman, Laurence Housman

Alfred Edward Housman ( 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet. His cycle of poems, A Shropshire Lad wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. Their simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers both before and after the First World War. Through their song-settings, the poems became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself.

Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at the University of Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are still considered authoritative.

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