A review by pennyriley
A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman

4.0

I've read bits and pieces of Houseman since my teens, but I think this is the first time I just sat down and read A Shropshire Lad through from beginning to end with a number of pauses for reflection. The themes are familiar - adolescent passions, life cut off in its prime and the inevitability of death, the insouciance and sometimes the arrogance of youth. Death is a particularly strong theme, whether by suicide, murder or a life cut off too soon, something that Housman seems to regard with envy:

But now you may stare as you like and there’s nothing to scan;
And brushing your elbow unguessed-at and not to be told
They carry back bright to the coiner the mintage of man, 15
The lads that will die in their glory and never be ol

The setting is beautifully rendered and Housman's love for that part of the world shines through.