A Shropshire Lad (Dover Thrift Editions)

Rating:
Summary: A Clock Ticks Like Thunder
Review: ...in A. E. Housman's "A Shropshire Lad." He is obsessed with death and the brevity of time. He is determined to wring meaning out of a teen soldier's blood-soaked shirt, to bring beauty out of tragedy.

Poets' critical reputations move up and down like a sine curve. Given the increasingly unread status of poetry, however, one would think that Housman's rep would be on the upswing, since he presents his ideas with clear language, pleasant rhyme, simple trochaic or iambic meter, archetypal imagery, and intense emotion; his is among the most plain and accessible poetry a major author has ever crafted, a boon to the genre at a time it's largely being ignored.

Still, people tend to read Housman wrong. They claim he's either promoting or deriding war. In fact, he's doing neither; war is simply an unfortunate fact of life for Housman. People must confuse him for Wilfred Owen, who actually does fulminate against war or Rudyard Kipling, who actually does promote it.

... Even the lovely rural setting of the poems, which in another book he refers to as "the land of lost content," suggests the rapture and freedom of boyhood is being mourned as it passes. Battle death is often a stand-in here for the death of innocence. War is only slightly more awful toward the body than time itself. War is only Housman's metaphor; love is his objective.

Rating:
Summary: Simple, yet mature poetry
Review: As with most high school students, I was required to read and analyze "To An Athlete Dying Young." Its simple structure, elementary language and subject matter to which I could relate all made it one of my favorite poems at the time. Now, years later, it remains very interesting and drew me into A Shropshire Lad. I was curious to see the other material Housman published and was thrilled to find that all of his work shared similar attractive qualities. His poetry is accessible to even the most novice poetry readers (like myself) and clearly expresses complicated thoughts with beatiful language. Housman's empasis on the brevity of life, death and war are not happy topics, but they are realistic and it is valuable to consider his concise thoughts. I think this book, which essentially follows the life cycle, is full of fascinating poetry that anyone will enjoy, no matter what level you wish to analyze the material. It is a terrific collection.

Rating:
Summary: The Cycle of Life as told by A.E. Housman...
Review: This review refers to the Dover Thrift Edition Paperback of "A Shropshire Lad"....

Without getting too analytical of the poetry itself or the meaning of Housman's works,as I am not a poet myself, I will say that I throughly enjoyed this edition of "A Shropshire Lad". Although Housman's words at times may seem a bit like the antedote to exhilaration, he seems to speak from the heart and wisely about the cycle of life. The never ending scheme of things.The seasons and the earth changing year by year. Young men falling in love, going off to war, coming home wounded, dead, or finding their loves no longer want them. It brought to mind for me, the song by Peter, Paul and Mary "Where Have All The Flowers Gone".

Although these words were first published well over 100 years ago, I found there is still meaning in his words.Many of the lines in this book I found to still be quoted today. For example in poem LVI-"The Day of Battle", he ponders this:

"Comrade, if to turn and fly
Made a soldier never die,
Fly I would, for who would not?
Tis sure no pleasure to be shot

But since the man that runs away
Lives to die another day,
And cowards' funerals, when they come,
Are not wept so well at home,........."

This Dover Thrift Edition is a great value for the price. It contains all sixty-three original poems of "A Shropshire Lad" including XIX-"To An Athlete Dying Young"(which you've heard if you have seen the film "Out of Africa"). It has an index with notes on the text which will clarify some of the names and places Housman uses that might be of geographic or historical value to the reader, and also has an index of the first lines, helpful in finding a specific poem. It's a small lightweight book you can easily throw in your purse, briefcase or even a large pocket, that you can pull out to read while you have time to kill or while traveling. It's something to add to your cart when you need just a little bit more to put you into that free-shipping catagory!

Dover Thrift has many of these little books of great literary works, I plan on adding more to my collection....enjoy....Laurie