Product Description
A Shropshire Lad. please visit www.valdebooks.com for a full list of titles ... Read more

Product Description
A Shropshire Lad was first published, atHousman'sownexpense, in 1896 afterseveral publishers had turned it down. At first the book sold slowly, but duringthe Second Boer War, Housman's nostalgic depiction of rural life, the book becamea bestsellerThe main theme of ""A Shropshire Lad"" is mortality, and advice about how we live our lives since deathcan come in anytime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Housman's Words of Life and Death - Still Meaningful Today
Without presuming to get too analytical of the poetry itself in this wonderful work by A.E. Housman-as I am not a poet myself- I will say as a lover of poetry, that I thoroughly enjoy "A Shropshire Lad". It's poetry that may be read many times over, with something new to be found with each reading.

Although Housman's words at times may seem a bit like the antidote 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 brings 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,..."

There are sixty-three original poems of "A Shropshire Lad" in all, including XIX-"To An Athlete Dying Young"(which you've heard read by Meryl Streep in the funeral scene of the film "Out of Africa").

A beautiful gift for the poetry lover, or to read aloud by the fireplace.

Dover Thrift has a nice little edition as well - A Shropshire Lad (Dover Thrift Editions)...enjoy....Laurie

also recommended:
Edgar Allan Poe Reader (Courage Classics)
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems

... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Poetry / General; Poetry / General; Poetry / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

There should be fewer than one star allowed
I had the same experience as the previous reviewer.There are no poems at all. AND I can't figure out how to delete it from my amazon list.Very strange.

No poems
At least it's free.You get a so-so introductory essay and a list of poem numbers, with titles for those that have titles.And no poems.

A new form of minimalist art, I guess. ... Read more

Product Description
A sketch of the author of "Shropshire Lad" together with a list of his writings and indexes to his classical papers.

THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED BY:Books for College Libraries; Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature; Catalogue of the Lamont Library, Harvard College. ... Read more

Product Description
A.E. Housman (1859-1936) was a poet of great popularity andwidespread influence: a Latin scholar of the front rank, a prose stylist, a notable writer of comic verse and, thanks to the success of "A Shropshire Lad", one of the best-known poems in the English language.;Reissued to mark the centenaryof the publication of "A Shropshire Lad", this biography isa complete account of Housman's life and career. Drawing ona wide range of sources, including much unpublished material, it provides readers with an insight into Housman the poet, the scholar and the man. ... Read more