by Peter Parker
MJJ – Moses Jackson
TCC – Trinity College, Cambridge
A.E.H. – Laurence Housman, A.E.H. (1937)
AP – Additional Poems
ASL – A Shropshire Lad
ASLOP – A Shropshire Lad and Other Poems, ed. Archie Burnett (2010)
Bromsgrove – Alfred Edward Housman (Bromsgrove School, 1936)
CH – A.E. Housman: The Critical Heritage, ed. Philip Gardner (1992)
CP&SP – Collected Poems and Selected Prose, ed. Christopher Ricks (1988)
GRH – Grant Richards, Housman: 1897–1926 (1941)
HSJ – Housman Society Journal
Letters I and Letters II – the two volumes of The Letters of A.E. Housman (2007)
LP – Last Poems
MP – More Poems
Poems – The Poems of A.E. Housman, ed. Archie Burnett (1997)
Recollections – Katharine E. Symons et al., Alfred Edward Housman: Recollections (1937)
TN&NP – ‘The Name and Nature of Poetry’, 1933 lecture
Preface
not a complete biography GRH, p. xi
I. England in Your Pocket
epigraph Birch, Westminster Abbey, p. 29
sweetness of country life The Times, 27 March 1896, CH, p. 58
a very real poet Review of Reviews, Vol. 14, Aug 1896, p. 187
the one I most wanted Richards, Author Hunting, p. 92
Vanity, not avarice To GR, 22 June 1903, Letters I, p. 149
I only stipulate To GR, 22 July 1898, ibid., p. 109
perhaps the largest sum To GR, 24 July 1898, ibid., p. 109
a pocket edition To GR, 11 Dec 1899, ibid., p. 114
gave full weight GRH, p. 33
bound to say To GR, 27 July 1904, Letters I, p. 159; GRH, p. 33
It was not for its reputation Quoted GRH, p. 34
in every pocket Nichols, p. 29
the last thirty years To John Coghlan, 8 Feb 1934, Letters I, p. 405
The particular psychology To C.W. Orr, 23 Jan 1935, Foreman, From Parry, p. 182
No contemporary poet American Services edition of Selected Poems, back jacket
no book of poetry Quoted Weber, p. 124
Yardley could use See New Yorker, 7 Nov 1931, p. 29
I was born Letters II, pp. 327–8
considered inferior A.E.H., p. 211
of a lower standard Ibid.
rescued from periodicals Carter and Sparrow, p. 165
My chief object To Witter Bynner, 3 June 1903, Letters I, p. 147
I don’t know how Auden, Forewords, p. 332
the writer who had Orwell and Angus, pp. 552, 550, 551
stood for Ibid., pp. 553, 554
more healing than prose To KES, 5 Oct 1915, Letters I, pp. 346–7
Nothing is less poetical Quoted Letters I, p. 347
The blind To GR, 10 Jan 1923, ibid., p. 533
not to personal experience To M. Pollet, 5 Feb 1933, Letters II, p. 329
Pray who gave To GR, 29 June 1907, Letters I, p. 211
the pompous edition Letters II, p. 114
while the book was printing Letters I, p. 612
If he reminds us Fortnightly Review, 1 Aug 1898, CH, p. 77
cried kinship Chap-Book (Chicago), 1 Feb 1897, CH, p. 70
no Arcadia CH, p. 76
full of the charm Orwell and Angus, p. 551
Like a true Englishman Anon, Citizen (Philadelphia), 9 Nov 1897, CH, p. 74
A theme or note Barker, National, p. 229
Anglo-Saxon genius Ker, quoted ibid., p. 229
Best Is Yet to Come ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ (1959) by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh
I followed England Preface, quoted Schwarz, p. 72
Amid the uncertainties Froude, p. 17
Alfred’s laws Quoted Schwarz, p. 72
Englishman proper Quoted Samuel, p. 58
high-days and holidays ‘Merry England’ in Rhys, p. 67
Indian summer The phrase is used by Girouard, p. 17
age of chivalry Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), quoted Girouard, p. 19
ideal of chivalry Norwood, p. 19
Poets of England Palgrave, Preface
deepened our sense C.H. Herford in Bulletin, Sept 1918, quoted Doyle, p. 27
mere chatter Quoted in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article on A.C. Bradley
radiantly legitimised Arthur Quiller-Couch, On the Art of Writing (1916), pp. 139–40, quoted Doyle, p. 21
Colonisation Quoted Doyle, p. 30
has been deeply affected Barker, Character, p. 3
Towns came late Ibid., pp. 3–4
I feel very sorry Question Time, BBC1, 14 June 2012
peculiarly ‘English’ poet Birch, Westminster Abbey, p. 16
Englishness of Housman’s poetry Ibid., p. 26
a great statement Ibid., p. 24
a piece of England Vickers to author, 18 Dec 2013
II. The Man and His Book
epigraph Letters II, p. 377
alderman Keats (Rollins), p. 88
There is death Coleridge, p. 184
in a very sad state Letters I, p. 76
with whom any Quoted Stallworthy, p. 469
Sodomites To GR, 9 Oct 28, Letters II, p. 93
Housman is one Plimpton, p. 299
self-loathing Maas, Spoken and Unspoken, p. 14
He always seemed Quoted R.P. Graves, p. 142
I read Gentlemen Mark Twain Quarterly, Winter 1936, p. 10
very pleasant Page, pp. 105–6
as he got easier Ibid., p. 107
only abominable Ibid., p. 104
a good raconteur The Times, 2 May 1936, p. 9
odd affectionateness Quoted Page, p. 152
damp your ardour To GR, 21 Feb 1898, Letters I, pp. 105–6
after the book To GR, 24 July 1898, ibid., p. 109
I should like To GR, 11 Dec 1898, ibid., p. 114
I enclose To GR, 27 July 1904, ibid., p. 159
unbecoming To Messrs Alexander Mooring, 17 Aug 1906, ibid., p. 198
how atrociously To GR, 17 Aug 1906, ibid., p. 199
atrocious production To GR, 27 June 1908, ibid., p. 223
usual blunders To GR, 28 Aug 1911, ibid., p. 273
more likely to remember See GRH, p. 223
flee the country with To GR, 12 Dec 1920, Letters I, p. 457
Naturally To GR, 20 Oct 1921, ibid., p. 474
As matters stand To GR, 1 Oct 1924, ibid., p. 573
exact To GR, 17 Dec 1926, ibid., p. 641
Dijon Title of Chapter XXVI of GRH
Even deflections A.E.H., p. 105
bains de vapeur See AEH to GR, 9 Oct 1928, Letters II, p. 93 and 22 May 1922, Letters I, p. 494
puts a stigma GRH, p. 297
There is no single Ibid.
a shy, proud A.E.H., p. 13
This is me Quoted ibid., p. 99
He was not a man Ibid., p. 13
We may seem CP&SP, p. 263
extracted from life A.E.H., p. 13
&nb
sp; implicit in his poetry GRH, p. 395
Well, William Rothenstein 1900–1922, p. 39
an absconding cashier Quoted R.P. Graves, p. 116
grim and dry Rothenstein, 1900–1922, p. 39
had never met Mendelson, Later Auden, p. 440
more physical TN&NP in ASLOP, p. 254
when the trees GRH, p. 289
strangely moved Encounter, October 1967, p. 39
Only those who Ibid.
The English poet Barker, Character, p. 304
It ought to be To Withers, 28 Dec 1928, Letters II, p. 102
the best portrait MP, p. 10
very unlike To Alice Rothenstein, 16 Jan 1927, Letters II, p. 5
oblige the artist To KES, 18 March 1934, Letters II, p. 409
an undertaker’s mute … maiden aunts Middleton: quoted Watson, p. 190; Benson: quoted Peter Green, New Republic, 13 Feb 2008
aged 35 A.E.H., plate facing p. 84
early manhood To Percy Withers, 24 Nov 1934, Letters II, p. 450
the year when To GR, 28 Sept 1920, Letters I, p. 452
all clever boys LH, Unexpected, p. 88
fell into my hands To Maurice Pollet, 5 Feb 1933, Letters II, p. 328
dark, twisted LH, Unexpected, p. 23
Was there ever Ibid., pp. 19–20
I was the sun A.E.H., pp. 22–3
a science which CP&SP, p. 260
roused within him Bromsgrove, p. 10
Country influences Ibid., p. 10
very pretty streams Ibid., p. 12
Many years later A.E.H., p. 29
there used to be To Alice Rothenstein, 16 Jan 1927, Letters II, p. 5
Summer! Poems, p. 203
Yesterday I went To Lucy Housman, 29 Jan 1895, Letters I, p. 8
has in it A.E.H., p. 27
Give me a land MP VIIIA
depth of feeling LH, Unexpected, p. 73
Now and then Ibid., p. 74
western horizon To M. Pollet, 5 Feb 1933, Letters II, p. 328
spent most To Lucy Housman, 9 Jan 1875, Letters I, p. 6
increasing restriction Bromsgrove, p. 24
Tristram Pollard in ibid., p. 30
generally recognized Ibid.
a perfect Philistine Quoted in Page, p. 41
lively Woudhuysen, p. 41
I believe that c. Nov/Dec 1893, Letters I, p. 75
15-mile walks MJJ to AEH, 23 Nov 1922, in HSJ 36 (2010), p. 45
simplicity Woudhuysen, p. 41
After we had Bromsgrove, pp. 30–1
absolutely safe first Ibid., p. 31
vowed that Quoted R.P. Graves, p. 49
came away Gow, p. 5
abstract thought Ibid., p. 7
There are few 11 Dec 1885, Letters I, p. 58
Deliberately ‘A.E. Housman’ in Auden, Collected Poems, p. 182
that voice Ricks, Critical Essays, p. 23
Propertius Gow, p. 7
emendation 11 Dec 1885, Letters I, p. 58
marriage of logic HSJ 1 (1974), p. 28
facile and frivolous Gow, p. 13
Housman’s chief love Ibid., p. 12
a society … intimate comradeship Quoted Dowling, pp. 85–6
Every pious parent Quoted Parker, p. 90
atheist at 21 To Pollet, 5 Feb 1933, Letters II, p. 328
went on believing To KES, 10 Nov 1935, ibid., p. 504
abandoned Christianity Ibid.
towards the end Ibid.
bewilderment Bromsgrove, p. 31
refused to consider Quoted R.P. Graves, p. 54
on whom he Quoted Letters I, pp. 261–2
During those years LH, Unexpected, p. 95
He returned home GRH, p. xv
blamable Ibid., p. xiv
When summer’s end LP XXXIX
On miry meads MP XXXIV
This failure John Sparrow, TLS, 16 Aug 1957
lay me down and die MP XXI
Diffugere Nives MP V
told him he LH to Gow, 15 June 1936, TCC, Add MS a. 71–126
did not much love To A.F. Scholfield, 16 June 1936, TCC, Add MS a. 71–188
most familiar friends F.W. Hodges to Gow, n.d., quoted Page, p. 51
a photograph of Jackson Reproduced in Watson, facing page 88
a Thames oarsman Page, p. 51
When he goes AEH to Lucy Housman, 29 March 1885, Letters I, pp. 55–6
a most delightful To Gow, n.d. TCC, Add MS a. 71–191
Though he would A.E.H., p. 60
an irregular life R.P. Graves, p. 64
Whether the worst Encounter, Oct 1967, p. 35
met daily Ibid.
three poems MP XXX, XXI; AP VII
The Mills and Boon Birch, Bibliography, p. 3
I still think Encounter, Oct 1967, p. 41
He looked at me MP XLI
Turn East Poems, p. 139
I doubt whether Encounter, Oct 1967, p. 41
that straight look MP XLII
wishful thinking Naiditch, Problems, p. 140
My fate Propertius, p. 16
Housman would not GRH, p. 449
Most of the pages The diaries are now in the British Library (Add MS 45861), but have been transcribed, with varying degrees of accuracy, by LH in Encounter (October 1967) and P.D. Eaton in HSJ 8 (1982), pp. 8–12
After leaving Karachi This account of MJJ’s life and career owes much to P.G. Naiditch’s ‘Notes on the Life of M.J. Jackson’, HSJ 12 (1986), pp. 93–114, collected in Naiditch, Problems, pp. 132–44
held his character 6 Feb 1911, quoted HSJ 36 (2010), p. 40
I do not want AEH to MJJ, 12 June 1911, in ibid., p. 41
cramped Andrew Jackson, ‘A Pivotal Friendship’, HSJ 36 (2010), p. 41
grown up To MJJ, 24 Aug 1918, quoted Jackson, p. 171
largely responsible AEH to MJJ, 4 Jan 1923, in HSJ 36, p. 46
I wrote verse 5 Feb 1933, Letters II, p. 328
in his twentieth year A.E.H., p. 114
it smacked Ibid.
That thing MJJ to AEH, 23 Nov 1922, in HSJ 36 (2010), p. 43
I never was AEH to MJJ, 4 Jan 1923, in ibid., p. 46
I am going on MJJ to AEH, 10 Dec 1922, in ibid., p. 44
As I cannot AEH to MJJ, 4 Jan 1923, in ibid., p. 46
Epithalamium LP XXIV
Propertius in Ricks, Critical Essays, p. 22
the voice of Ibid., p. 23
dactylic hexameters I owe this point to A.E. Stallings in the notes to his translation of the poem published in Poetry in March 2012: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poemcomment/243608
the love of comrades Cf dedicatory poem in CP&SP, p. 253–5 and AP V
He said that Quoted Naiditch, Problems, p. 142
I did not begin Letters II, p. 329
I promise nothing MP XII
Literature as Compensation For
ster, Commonplace Book, p. 47
continuous excitement Prefatory note to Last Poems
came to him GRH, p. 436
thirteen times TN&NP in ASLOP, p. 256
easy reading Athenaeum, 8 Oct 1898, quoted GRH, p. 27
Housman is perhaps New Statesman, 1 Jan 1938, p. 19
During the last To the Council of UCL, 19 April 1892, Letters I, p. 72
picked him out Quoted R.P. Graves, p. 79
Having drunk TN&NP in ASLOP, pp. 255–6
The leader of 20 May 1933, Letters II, p. 347
Poetry is not TN&NP in ASLOP, p. 248
opinions and beliefs Ibid., p. 247
Nymphs and shepherds Ibid., p. 254
Experience has taught me Ibid.
only describe Ibid., pp. 254–5. AEH is slightly misquoting a letter Keats wrote to Charles Brown, dated 1 Nov 1820: see Keats (Colvin), p. 374
one passion Quoted Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry on Frances Brawne
seldom written TN&NP in ASLOP, p. 255
rather out of health Quoted Page, p. 78
most prolific To Maurice Pollet, 5 Feb 1933, Letters II, p. 329
Punctuality Bromsgrove, p. 23
had from the first Ibid., p. 30
starry sky Ibid., p. 24
That his daily Gow, p. 51
To burn always Pater, pp. 210–11
I am always ‘Preface: Being a word on behalf of Patchouli’, in Symons, Silhouettes, p. xv
no very salutary Ibid., p. xiv
the High Priest National Observer, 6 April 1895, quoted Hyde, p. 156
Here is a writer CH, p. 65
pleasant Ibid., p. 67
Mr Housman has Ibid., p. 69
The little volume Ibid., pp. 59–60
the best review To Houston Martin, 22 March 1936, Letters II, p. 528
people who had Rothenstein, 1872–1900, p. 281
Its narrow measure Epigraph to More Poems
a biography Review of Reviews, Vol. 14, August 1896, p. 187
a persona Leggett, Housman’s Land, p. 124
progressively tragic Ibid., p. 107
Very little Letters II, p. 329
The ‘Enigma’ Quoted Rushton, p. 65
It is evident Idler ix, June 1896, p. 727
Only the archangel To LH, 16 Feb 1929, Letters II, p. 111