A Shropshire Lad
Encyclopedia
A Shropshire Lad is a cycle of sixty-three poems by the English
poet Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936). Some of the better-known poems in the book are "To an Athlete Dying Young
", "Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty".
The collection was published in 1896 (see 1896 in poetry
). Housman originally titled the book The Poems of Terence Hearsay, referring to a character in the volume, but changed the title at the suggestion of his publisher.
(1899–1902), Housman's nostalgic depiction of rural life and young men's early deaths struck a chord with English readers and the book became a bestseller. Later, World War I
further increased its popularity. Arthur Somervell
and other composers were inspired by the folksong-like simplicity of the poems, and the most famous musical settings are by George Butterworth
and Ralph Vaughan Williams
, with others by Ivor Gurney
, John Ireland
and Ernest John Moeran
.
Housman was surprised by the success of A Shropshire Lad because of the deep pessimism and obsession with death throughout, with no place for the consolations of religion. Set in a half-imaginary pastoral Shropshire
, "the land of lost content" (in fact Housman wrote most of the poems before visiting the county), the poems explore the fleetingness of love and decay of youth in a spare, uncomplicated style which many critics of the time found out-of-date as compared to the exuberance of some Romantic poets. Housman himself acknowledged the influence of the songs of William Shakespeare
, the Scottish Border ballad
s and Heinrich Heine
, but specifically denied any influence of Greek
and Latin
classics
in his poetry.
One of Housman's most familiar poems is number XIII from A Shropshire Lad, untitled but often anthologised under a title taken from its first line. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations includes no fewer than fourteen of its sixteen lines:
Poem XXVII, "Is my team ploughing?" is a dialogue between a dead youth and a friend who has survived him. The dead youth asks:
The living replies
As the reader has begun to suspect, two stanzas later the living man acknowledges:
Poem LXII, "Terence, this is stupid stuff", (source) is a dialogue in which the poet, asked for "a tune to dance to" instead of his usual "moping melancholy" verse, offers the example of the old King Mithridates
who tasted a little of every poison until he inured himself to them all. Similarly, Housman advises the speaker that it is wise to occasionally contemplate and encounter the less-than-merry side of life.
The collection begins with the thought of the Shropshire
lads who have died as soldiers in the service of Queen Victoria, as her golden jubilee
(1887) is celebrated with a beacon bonfire at Clee
(I). There is little time for a lad to live and enjoy the spring (II). Death awaits the soldier (III-IV). Maids are not always kind (V-VI): the farmer also comes to the grave (VII). Some lads murder their brothers, and are hanged (VIII-IX). Love may be unrequited (X). A dead lad's ghost begs the consolation of a last embrace (XI). Unattainable love leaves the lad helpless and lost (XIII-XVI). The playing of a game of cricket or football masks a broken heart (XVII).
The athlete who died young was wise, for he did not outlive his renown (XIX). The poet befriends death in his heart, admiring the courage of the departing soldier (XXII). He envies the country lads who die young and do not grow old (XXIII). Quick, while he is alive and young, put him to use! (XXIV). A lover may die, and his girl will walk out with another (XXV-XXVII). The hostility of the ancient Saxon
and Briton are in his blood, and death and begetting are intermingled in him (XXVIII). The storm on Wenlock Edge
stirs the same turmoil in him that it stirred in the ancient Romans
at Wroxeter (XXXI). He is here but for a moment – take this hand! (XXXII) But if he is of no use to them that he loves, he will go away, perhaps to be a soldier (XXXIV, XXXV). Or one may live an exile from home in London
, but never forgetting home and friends (XXXVII, XXXVIII).
The wind sighs across England to him from Shropshire, but he will not see the broom
flowering gold on Wenlock Edge (XXXVIII-XL). London is full of dark-hearted men who fear and hate one other, but he will find a use for his living frame while he has a living will (XLIII). The suicide is wise, for he prefers to die cleanly than live in shame (XLIV). Bring him no flowers, but only what will never flower again (XLVI). A carpenter's son once died on the gallows, so that other lads might live (XLVII). He was happy before he was born, but he will endure life for a while: the cure for all sorrows will come in time (XLVIII). If dark-roomed London has its troubles, so do Clun
and Knighton, and the only cure for any of them is the grave (L).
Though he is in London, his spirit wanders about his home fields (LII). From the unquiet grave the suicide's ghost visits the beloved (LIII). Those he loved are dead, and other youths eternally re-live his own experiences (LV). Like the lad that becomes a soldier, one can choose death and face it (LVI). Dick is in the graveyard, and Ned is long in jail, as he comes home to Ludlow
(LVIII). Take your pack and go: the journey of life leads endlessly through the night (LX). It matters not if he sleeps among the suicides, or among those who died well – they were all his friends(LXI). Do you mock his melancholy thoughts? He has tasted them like Mithridates
, and shall die old (LXII). Perhaps these poems are not fashionable, but they will always please other lads like him (LXIII).
:
and this, by Hugh Kingsmill
, which, according to Cyril Alington
writing in Poets at Play, Housman described as 'the only good parody' of A Shropshire Lad:
, England
.
The collection was also commemorated by the Railway company Wrexham & Shropshire when they named Class 67
67012 A Shropshire Lad after running a competition in the Shropshire Star
Newspaper. The Shropshire Brewery, Woods, celebrated the 100th of the poem by naming their bitter after it.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
poet Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936). Some of the better-known poems in the book are "To an Athlete Dying Young
To An Athlete Dying Young
"To An Athlete Dying Young" is a poem in A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad . It is perhaps one of the most well-known poems pertaining to early death; in this case, that of a young man at the height of his physical glory....
", "Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty".
The collection was published in 1896 (see 1896 in poetry
1896 in poetry
— closing lines of Rudyard Kipling's If—, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
). Housman originally titled the book The Poems of Terence Hearsay, referring to a character in the volume, but changed the title at the suggestion of his publisher.
Reception
A Shropshire Lad was first published in 1896 at Housman's own expense after several publishers had turned it down, much to the surprise of his colleagues and students. At first the book sold slowly, but during the Second Boer WarSecond Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
(1899–1902), Housman's nostalgic depiction of rural life and young men's early deaths struck a chord with English readers and the book became a bestseller. Later, World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
further increased its popularity. Arthur Somervell
Arthur Somervell
Sir Arthur Somervell was an English composer, and after Hubert Parry one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s-1900s....
and other composers were inspired by the folksong-like simplicity of the poems, and the most famous musical settings are by George Butterworth
George Butterworth
George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC was an English composer best known for the orchestral idyll The Banks of Green Willow and his song settings of A. E...
and Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, with others by Ivor Gurney
Ivor Gurney
Ivor Bertie Gurney was an English composer and poet.-Life:Born at 3 Queen Street, Gloucester in 1890, the second of four children of David Gurney, a tailor, and his wife Florence, a seamstress, Gurney showed musical ability early...
, John Ireland
John Ireland (composer)
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
and Ernest John Moeran
Ernest John Moeran
Ernest John Moeran was an English composer who had strong associations with Ireland .-Early life:...
.
Housman was surprised by the success of A Shropshire Lad because of the deep pessimism and obsession with death throughout, with no place for the consolations of religion. Set in a half-imaginary pastoral Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, "the land of lost content" (in fact Housman wrote most of the poems before visiting the county), the poems explore the fleetingness of love and decay of youth in a spare, uncomplicated style which many critics of the time found out-of-date as compared to the exuberance of some Romantic poets. Housman himself acknowledged the influence of the songs of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, the Scottish Border ballad
Border ballad
The English/Scottish border has a long and bloody history of conquest and reconquest, raid and counter-raid . It also has a stellar tradition of balladry, such that a whole group of songs exists that are often called "border ballads", because they were collected in that region.Border ballads, like...
s and Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, but specifically denied any influence of Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
in his poetry.
Themes and style
The main theme of A Shropshire Lad is mortality, and so living life to its fullest, since death can strike at any time. For example, number IV, titled "Reveille", urges an unnamed "lad" to stop sleeping in the daylight, for "When the journey's over/There'll be time enough to sleep."One of Housman's most familiar poems is number XIII from A Shropshire Lad, untitled but often anthologised under a title taken from its first line. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations includes no fewer than fourteen of its sixteen lines:
- When I was one-and-twenty
- I heard a wise man say,
- "Give crowns and pounds and guineas
- But not your heart away;
- Give pearls away and rubies
- But keep your fancy free."
- But I was one-and-twenty,
- No use to talk to me.
- When I was one-and-twenty
- I heard him say again,
- "The heart out of the bosom
- Was never given in vain;
- 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
- And sold for endless rue."
- And I am two-and-twenty
- And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
Poem XXVII, "Is my team ploughing?" is a dialogue between a dead youth and a friend who has survived him. The dead youth asks:
- "Is my girl happy,
- That I thought hard to leave,
- And is she tired of weeping
- As she lies down at eve?"
The living replies
- "Ay, she lies down lightly,
- She lies not down to weep:
- Your girl is well contented.
- Be still, my lad, and sleep."
As the reader has begun to suspect, two stanzas later the living man acknowledges:
- "I cheer a dead man's sweetheart.
- Never ask me whose."
Poem LXII, "Terence, this is stupid stuff", (source) is a dialogue in which the poet, asked for "a tune to dance to" instead of his usual "moping melancholy" verse, offers the example of the old King Mithridates
Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
who tasted a little of every poison until he inured himself to them all. Similarly, Housman advises the speaker that it is wise to occasionally contemplate and encounter the less-than-merry side of life.
- Therefore, since the world has still
- Much good, but much less good than ill,
- And while the sun and moon endure
- Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
- I'd face it as a wise man would,
- And train for ill and not for good.
Thematic summary
The work is composed around a series of recurrent themes. It is not a connected narrative, though it can be read as the allegorical narrative of a journey of the heart. The 'I' of the poems, the authorial person, is in two cases named as Terence (VIII, LXII), the 'Shropshire Lad' of the title: however, the poems are not necessarily all in the same voice, and the narrative suggested by the sequence, or themed groups, of poems is a general framework rather than a closely defined trajectory.The collection begins with the thought of the Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
lads who have died as soldiers in the service of Queen Victoria, as her golden jubilee
Golden Jubilee
A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...
(1887) is celebrated with a beacon bonfire at Clee
Cleehill
Cleehill is a village in Shropshire, England. It is sometimes written as Clee Hill Village to avoid confusion....
(I). There is little time for a lad to live and enjoy the spring (II). Death awaits the soldier (III-IV). Maids are not always kind (V-VI): the farmer also comes to the grave (VII). Some lads murder their brothers, and are hanged (VIII-IX). Love may be unrequited (X). A dead lad's ghost begs the consolation of a last embrace (XI). Unattainable love leaves the lad helpless and lost (XIII-XVI). The playing of a game of cricket or football masks a broken heart (XVII).
The athlete who died young was wise, for he did not outlive his renown (XIX). The poet befriends death in his heart, admiring the courage of the departing soldier (XXII). He envies the country lads who die young and do not grow old (XXIII). Quick, while he is alive and young, put him to use! (XXIV). A lover may die, and his girl will walk out with another (XXV-XXVII). The hostility of the ancient Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
and Briton are in his blood, and death and begetting are intermingled in him (XXVIII). The storm on Wenlock Edge
Wenlock Edge
Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. It is long and runs from South West to North East between Craven Arms and Much Wenlock. It is roughly 330 metres high...
stirs the same turmoil in him that it stirred in the ancient Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
at Wroxeter (XXXI). He is here but for a moment – take this hand! (XXXII) But if he is of no use to them that he loves, he will go away, perhaps to be a soldier (XXXIV, XXXV). Or one may live an exile from home in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, but never forgetting home and friends (XXXVII, XXXVIII).
The wind sighs across England to him from Shropshire, but he will not see the broom
Broom (shrub)
Brooms are a group of evergreen, semi-evergreen, and deciduous shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae, mainly in the three genera Chamaecytisus, Cytisus and Genista, but also in many other small genera . All genera in this group are from the tribe Genisteae...
flowering gold on Wenlock Edge (XXXVIII-XL). London is full of dark-hearted men who fear and hate one other, but he will find a use for his living frame while he has a living will (XLIII). The suicide is wise, for he prefers to die cleanly than live in shame (XLIV). Bring him no flowers, but only what will never flower again (XLVI). A carpenter's son once died on the gallows, so that other lads might live (XLVII). He was happy before he was born, but he will endure life for a while: the cure for all sorrows will come in time (XLVIII). If dark-roomed London has its troubles, so do Clun
Clun
Clun is a small town in Shropshire, England. The town is located entirely in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2001 census recorded 642 people living in the town...
and Knighton, and the only cure for any of them is the grave (L).
Though he is in London, his spirit wanders about his home fields (LII). From the unquiet grave the suicide's ghost visits the beloved (LIII). Those he loved are dead, and other youths eternally re-live his own experiences (LV). Like the lad that becomes a soldier, one can choose death and face it (LVI). Dick is in the graveyard, and Ned is long in jail, as he comes home to Ludlow
Ludlow
Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire, England close to the Welsh border and in the Welsh Marches. It lies within a bend of the River Teme, on its eastern bank, forming an area of and centred on a small hill. Atop this hill is the site of Ludlow Castle and the market place...
(LVIII). Take your pack and go: the journey of life leads endlessly through the night (LX). It matters not if he sleeps among the suicides, or among those who died well – they were all his friends(LXI). Do you mock his melancholy thoughts? He has tasted them like Mithridates
Mithridatism
Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word derives from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity...
, and shall die old (LXII). Perhaps these poems are not fashionable, but they will always please other lads like him (LXIII).
Parodies
The uniform style and tone of A Shropshire Lad make it an easy target for parody, as in this example by Humbert WolfeHumbert Wolfe
Humbert Wolfe CB CBE , was an Italian-born English poet, man of letters and civil servant, from a Jewish family background, his father, Martin Wolff of German descent and his mother, Consuela, née Terraccini, Italian...
:
- When lads have done with labour
- In Shropshire, one will cry
- "Let's go and kill a neighbour,"
- And t'other answers "Aye!"
- So this one kills his cousins,
- And that one kills his dad;
- And, as they hang by dozens
- At Ludlow, lad by lad,
- Each of them one-and-twenty,
- All of them murderers,
- The hangman mutters: "Plenty
- Even for Housman's verse."
and this, by Hugh Kingsmill
Hugh Kingsmill
Hugh Kingsmill Lunn , who dropped his last name for professional purposes, was a versatile British writer and journalist. Writers Arnold Lunn and Brian Lunn were his brothers.-Life:...
, which, according to Cyril Alington
Cyril Alington
Cyril Argentine Alington was an English educationalist, scholar, cleric, and prolific author. He was the headmaster of both Shrewsbury School and Eton College. He also served as chaplain to King George V and as Dean of Durham....
writing in Poets at Play, Housman described as 'the only good parody' of A Shropshire Lad:
- What, still alive at twenty-two,
- A clean upstanding chap like you?
- Why, if your throat is hard to slit,
- Slit your girl's and swing for it!
- Like enough you won't be glad
- When they come to hang you, lad,
- But bacon's not the only thing
- That's cured by hanging from a string.
- When the blotting pad of night
- Sucks the latest drop of light,
- Lads whose job is still to do
- Shall whet their knives and think of you.
Legacy
There are numerous references and memorialisations of this poem in literature and art. One example is a wall hanging A Shropshire Lad located in St Laurence Church, LudlowSt Laurence Church, Ludlow
St Laurence's Church, Ludlow is a parish church in the Church of England in Ludlow.-Background:The parish church was established as a Norman place of worship in association with the founding of Ludlow in the 11th century AD. This parish church in Shropshire, England contains an extensive set of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The collection was also commemorated by the Railway company Wrexham & Shropshire when they named Class 67
British Rail Class 67
The Class 67 locomotives are a class of Bo'Bo' diesel electric mainline locomotives which were built for the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway between 1999 to 2000 by Alstom at Meinfesa in Valencia, Spain with drive components from General Motors Diesel.Rail enthusiasts have nicknamed the class...
67012 A Shropshire Lad after running a competition in the Shropshire Star
Shropshire Star
The Shropshire Star is a regional newspaper covering the whole of Shropshire, plus parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, the Llangollen area and northern Powys in the United Kingdom.-About:The editor is Keith Harrison....
Newspaper. The Shropshire Brewery, Woods, celebrated the 100th of the poem by naming their bitter after it.
In popular culture
- A Shropshire Lad is mentioned in E.M. Forster's A Room with a ViewA Room with a ViewA Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century...
. One of the characters, Reverend Beebe, picks up the book from a stack whilst visiting the Emerson home. Lamenting the son's "unconventional" – if not sacrilegious – literary taste, he remarks, "Never heard of it." - A copy of the book sits on Robbie's desk in Ian McEwanIan McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
's novel, AtonementAtonement (novel)Atonement is a 2001 novel by British author Ian McEwan.On a fateful day, a young girl makes a terrible mistake that has life-changing effects for many people...
. - Alice MunroAlice MunroAlice Ann Munro is a Canadian short-story writer, the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction, and a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize...
's short story "Wenlock Edge" also contains a reference to the poem. - Salman Rushdie's novel Shalimar the ClownShalimar the ClownShalimar the Clown is a 2005 novel written by Salman Rushdie, who also wrote The Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children.Shalimar the Clown was published in September 2005 and has attracted significant attention, comparable to his earlier publications, particularly The Moor's Last Sigh and...
also contains a reference to Housman's poem. - Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's play The Invention of LoveThe Invention of LoveThe Invention of Love is a 1997 play by Tom Stoppard portraying the life of poet A.E. Housman, focusing specifically on his personal life and love for a college classmate. The play is written from the viewpoint of Housman dealing with his memories towards the end of his life and contains many...
– based on the life and work of A.E. Housman – contains numerous references to and quotes from the poems, but is more focused on his work as a scholar of classics. - Barbara StanwyckBarbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
(as Julia Sturges) reads the entire poem, except for the very last line, to Robert WagnerRobert WagnerRobert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
(as Giff Rogers) in the 1953 film version of TitanicTitanic (1953 film)Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...
. - The Roger ZelaznyRoger ZelaznyRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...
novella "For a Breath I TarryFor a Breath I Tarry"For a Breath I Tarry" is a highly-regarded 1966 post-apocalyptic novelette by Roger Zelazny. Taking place long after the self-extinction of Man, it recounts the tale of Frost, a sentient machine "For a Breath I Tarry" is a highly-regarded 1966 post-apocalyptic novelette by Roger Zelazny. Taking...
" references the poem and shares some of the poem's setting and mood with its own. - "A Shropshire Lad" is mentioned in Dorothy L. SayersDorothy L. SayersDorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
' mystery "Strong Poison". Lord Peter WimseyLord Peter WimseyLord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
's manservant Bunter is putting his Lordship's books away and looks with some curiosity at the chosen few left open on the table, including Housman's "A Shropshire Lad". - In Walker Percy's 1960 novel "The Moviegoer", the narrator mentions that his father died in Crete during WWII with a copy of "The Shropshire Lad" in his pocket.
- Poem IV "Reveille":
- The title of James EllroyJames EllroyLee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
's Blood's a RoverBlood's a RoverBlood's a Rover is a 2009 crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy. It follows American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand as the final volume of Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy. A 10,000-word excerpt was published in the December 2008 issue of Playboy...
comes from Poem IV "Reveille".
- The title of James Ellroy
- Poem XIII "When I was one-and-twenty":
- In episode #102 ("The Changing of the Guard"The Changing of the Guard (The Twilight Zone)"The Changing of the Guard" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Professor Ellis Fowler is an elderly teacher who is forced into retirement by his school...
) of the American television anthology series The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
, Professor Ellis Fowler reads Poem XIII aloud to his students before relieving them for semester break. - The first section of George R. R. MartinGeorge R. R. MartinGeorge Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...
's novella "Meathouse Man" takes its title from first line of Poem XIII
- In episode #102 ("The Changing of the Guard"
- Poem XIX "To An Athlete Dying Young":
- In Isak Dinesen's Out of AfricaOut of AfricaOut of Africa is a 1985 romantic drama film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The film is based loosely on the autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen , which was published in 1937, with additional material from Dinesen's book...
, Poem XIX is quoted at the graveside of Denys Finch HattonDenys Finch HattonDenys George Finch Hatton was a big-game hunter, and the lover of Karen Blixen , who wrote about him in her autobiographical book Out of Africa first published in 1937... - In the SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "The Last Temptation of KrustThe Last Temptation of Krust"The Last Temptation of Krust" is the 15th episode of The Simpsons ninth season. It was written by Donick Cary and directed by Mike B. Anderson. The episode first aired on February 22, 1998. Comedian Jay Leno makes a guest appearance...
", Krusty the Clown's resignation speech includes an excerpt from Poem XIX.
- In Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa
- Poem XXVII "When shall I be dead and rid...":
- T. H. WhiteT. H. WhiteTerence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...
quotes the final stanza of Poem XXVIII at the beginning of The Queen of Air and DarknessThe Queen of Air and DarknessThe Queen of Air and Darkness, originally titled The Witch in the Wood, is a novel by English writer T. H. White. It is the second book in his epic work, The Once and Future King...
, part of his Once and Future King series.
- T. H. White
- Poem XXXI "On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble":
- The title of Patrick WhitePatrick WhitePatrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
's The Tree of Man comes from Poem XXXI, and lines from the poem are quoted in the text.
- The title of Patrick White
- Poem XXXII "From far, from eve and morning":
- J. L. CarrJ. L. CarrJoseph Lloyd Carr ; who called himself "Jim" or even "James," was an English novelist, publisher, teacher, and eccentric.-Biography:...
's A Month in the Country quotes Poem XXXII.
- J. L. Carr
- Poem XXXII "From far, from eve and morning":
- The titles of both Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le GuinUrsula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
's anthology, The Wind's Twelve QuartersThe Wind's Twelve QuartersThe Wind's Twelve Quarters is a collection of short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin first published by Harper & Row in 1975.Le Guin describes the collection as a retrospective. It includes many stories which had been published previously or expanded into novels. Others take place in locations that...
and the short story "For a Breath I TarryFor a Breath I Tarry"For a Breath I Tarry" is a highly-regarded 1966 post-apocalyptic novelette by Roger Zelazny. Taking place long after the self-extinction of Man, it recounts the tale of Frost, a sentient machine "For a Breath I Tarry" is a highly-regarded 1966 post-apocalyptic novelette by Roger Zelazny. Taking...
" by Roger ZelaznyRoger ZelaznyRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...
come from phrases in Poem XXXII.
- The titles of both Ursula K. Le Guin
- Poem XXXV "On the idle hill of summer":
- The title of the first episode of the BBC documentary series on World War I, The Great WarThe Great War (documentary)The Great War is a 26-episode documentary series from 1964 on the First World War. It was a co-production involving the resources of the Imperial War Museum, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
, is from the first line (and title) of Poem XXXV.
- The title of the first episode of the BBC documentary series on World War I, The Great War
- Poem LXII, in Dorothy L. SayersDorothy L. SayersDorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
, Detective Novel, from 1929, "Strong PoisonStrong PoisonStrong Poison is a 1929 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.-Plot introduction:It is in Strong Poison that Lord Peter first meets Harriet Vane, an author of police fiction. The immediate problem is that she is on trial for her life, charged with murdering her former...
", the title and King MithridatesMithridatesMithridates or Mithradates is the Hellenistic form of an Iranian theophoric name, meaning "given by the deity Mithra". It may refer to:Rulers*Mithridates I of Parthia *Mithridates II of Parthia...
VI of Pontus, from the poem, are referred to by the protagonist Lord Peter WimseyLord Peter WimseyLord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
. - Poem XL "The Land of Lost Content":
- The poem is quoted in its entirety in S. M. StirlingS. M. StirlingStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.-Personal:Stirling was born on...
's novel Conquistador. - Blue Remembered HillsBlue Remembered HillsBlue Remembered Hills is a television play by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on January 30, 1979 as part of the BBC's Play for Today series....
, a television play by Dennis PotterDennis PotterDennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
, takes its title from Poem XL and includes Potter reading from the poem. - The movie WalkaboutWalkabout (film)Walkabout is a 1971 film set in Australia, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg and David Gulpilil. Edward Bond wrote the screenplay, which is loosely based on the novel Walkabout by James Vance Marshall...
closes with a narrator reading all eight lines of Poem XL. - In the Inspector LewisInspector LewisRobert "Robbie" Lewis is a fictional character in the Inspector Morse crime novels by Colin Dexter. The "sidekick" to Morse, Lewis is a Detective Sergeant in the Thames Valley Police, and appears in all 13 Morse novels. In the television adaptation, Inspector Morse, he is played by Kevin Whately...
episode "The Dead of Winter", Hathaway recites Poem XL. - The poem is quoted in Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieChimamanda Ngozi AdichieChimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer.Her family is of Igbo descent. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.-Early life and education:...
's novel Half of a Yellow SunHalf of a Yellow SunHalf of a Yellow Sun is a novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published in 2006 by Knopf/Anchor, it tells the story of two sisters, Olanna and Kainene, during the Biafran War.-Plot:...
.
- The poem is quoted in its entirety in S. M. Stirling
- Poem LIV "With rue my heart is laden":
- Donna TarttDonna TarttDonna Tartt is an American writer and author of the novels The Secret History and The Little Friend . She won the WH Smith Literary Award for The Little Friend in 2003.-Early life:...
's novel The Secret HistoryThe Secret HistoryThe Secret History, the first novel by Mississippi-born writer Donna Tartt, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1992. A 75,000 print order was made for the first edition , and the book became a bestseller.Set in New England, The Secret History tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics...
includes the character Henry reading from Poem LIV. - Diana DorsDiana DorsDiana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
as Mary Hilton, recites the poem "Loveliest of trees the cherry now" before being hanged, in the 1956 British film Yield To The NightYield to the NightYield to the Night is a 1956 British crime drama film starring Diana Dors as a murderess sentenced to hang and spending her last days in the condemned cell in a British women's prison...
- Donna Tartt
External links
- A Shropshire Lad e-text at University of Virginia
- A Shropshire Lad e-text at Gutenberg