MEMOIRS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 96, 26 April 1938, Page 3

MEMOIRS

A.E.H. Some poems, some letters and a personal memoir by his brother, Laurence Housman.— (Jonathan Cape.) It is not many, even among the best known who can at once be recognised by their initial letters. Of the late Professor A. E. Housman, classical Latinist, and poet that can be said. The publication of his book of verse entitled “A Shropshire Lad,” his letters and other poems made his initials very familiar among all those who professed or confessed a love for English literature. In this publication, the personal memoir, thourh mentioned last in the title, has first place, as it undoubtedly should, in the contents, for it receals what manner of man it was who wrote the latter letters and composed the poems in the collection. The editor brother says that the memoir is not a biography. But the memoir leaves the reader with the impression that he has in truth obtained a close-up view of the subject. It is likely, too, that no one could write a more enlightening biography than that given in the memoir, for A.E.H. was *‘a lonely soul and dwelt apart” and for lengthy periods even his own family were ignorant of A.E.H.'s mode of life and intentions. Briefly, A.E.H. commenced the career of a classical scholar at Oxford but failed, then like Charles Lamb, he became a clerk in an office; in this case, the Patent Office. But his evenings were spent to such advantage, in the British Museum mostly, that the production )f his mind and pen during those years secured him the appointment to the Chair of Latin in the University of London, and, later, he went to Cambridge as Kennedy Professor of Latin. He was occupying this post when he died.

A.E.H. was richly endowed at birth with intellectual gifts. In fact, he was a member of a gifted family.

Laurence Housman commands a facile pen. A.E.H. never married: the world of letters was his mistress. Not having come under the genial influence of wife or children some of his poetry is of a somewhat sombre character: yet curiously enough he gave forth a number of what he called “Nonsense Verses.” In religion, he declared himself to be an Atheist. As a product of his early years one cannot help quoting a verse of summer:— Summer, and over brooding lands A noon-day haze of heat expands The gentle breeze along the meadows, Lifts a few leaflets on the trees, But cannot stir the clouds that lie Motionless upon the dreaming sky, And cannot shift the sleeping shadows As motionless upon the leas. All who enjoyed “A Shropshire Lad” and who wish to know the intimate life of the author of that collection of poetry will wish to place this book upon their shelves.