Last Poems: With a Chapter from Twenty-Four Portraits By William Rothenstein

By A. E. Housman and William Rothenstein

“Last Poems” is a 1936 collection of poetry by A. E. Housman. The poems include: “The West”, “Llic Jacet”, “Grenadier”, “Lancer”, “The Deserter”, “The Culprit”, “Eight O'Clock”, “Spring Morning”, “Astronomy”, “Epithalamium”, “The Oracles”, “Sinner's Rue”, “Hell's Gate”, “Revolution”, “Epitaph On An Army Of Mercenaries”, and “Fancy's Knell”. Alfred Edward Housman (1859–1936), also known as A. E. Housman, was an English poet and classical scholar considered to be one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. A fantastic collection of classic poetry by a master of the form. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with a chapter from “Twenty-Four Portraits” by William Rothenstein.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read & Co. Books
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528789783

A. E. Housman

Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) was born and brought up in the Bromsgrove region of Worcestershire, adjacent to Shropshire, and was educated locally and at St John's College, Oxford. Though he was a fine scholar, he failed to gin an Honours degree, and spent some years in the Patent Office in London. A series of brilliant academic articles secured him the Professorship of Latin at London University and he went on the become Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity College. Most famous for A Shropshire Lad (1896), Last Poems was published in 1922, More Poems appeared posthumously and Collected Poems in 1939.

Book preview

A. E. Housman

A CHAPTER FROM

Twenty-four portraits

BY WILLIAM ROTHENSTEIN

A. E. Housman is a poet in the English tradition. Calling his solitary book of lyrics A Shropshire Lad, he takes the reader back to a time when poetry was not merely or mainly metropolitan and each country knew creative pride. He uses the simplest English forms, writing new ballads that wear grimness of old; and he uses the simplest English themes, turning to days when the ploughman naturally loved a scarlet coat and, breaking the laws, was hanged for it without philosophically reviling the laws. His briefest verses have uncommon energy; they are a man's poetry and quicken the hearts of common men. It is poetry which moves in the changeful waters of our time like a swimmer conscious of his strength and careless of all else. The best of the lyrics -few are below the best -have each his athletic power, a masculine curtness and full pride of

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The poems were alright but overall the tone was very depressing.