A Shropshire Lad: Analysis of Setting
"A Shropshire Lad: Analysis of Setting" explores the rich and varied landscapes of Shropshire, which serve as the primary backdrop for A.E. Housman's poetry. This rural county, noted for its sheep farming, embodies both a nurturing environment and a site of harsher realities, including themes of theft and violence. The natural beauty of the region, featuring rivers like the Severn, Teme, and Clun, alongside notable hills such as Bredon Hill and Wenlock Edge, evokes a deep sense of nostalgia and longing for youth and companionship.
In contrast to the pastoral imagery, the small towns of Ludlow and Shrewsbury introduce elements of urban life, offering settings for social gatherings and shared memories among the youthful characters portrayed in the poems. London is depicted as a bustling city that contrasts sharply with the tranquility of Shropshire, representing a potential loss of identity for country boys who venture into its complexities. Additionally, references to remote foreign lands, such as the Nile River, evoke a poignant homesickness felt by soldiers far from their beloved Shropshire. Overall, the interplay of these various settings enhances the emotional depth of Housman's work, inviting readers to reflect on themes of belonging and the passage of time.
A Shropshire Lad: Analysis of Setting
First published: 1896
Type of work: Poetry
Asterisk denotes entries on real places.
Places Discussed
*Shropshire
*Shropshire. The sheep farming county of Shropshire provides the backdrop for Housman’s poems and functions as the nurturing mother country of the personas depicted in his verses. While bucolic and peaceful in many respects, the harsher aspects of farm life, which include theft and fratricide, are also evoked. Many natural features of the landscape, which include rivers such as the Severn, Teme, and Clun, and mountains such as Bredon Hill, Wenlock Edge, and Titterstone Clee, are woven into the poems. These natural elements contribute to a feeling of homesickness and the longing for friends and youth, which permeate Housman’s work.
*Ludlow
*Ludlow. Small Shropshire town. Ludlow, and to a lesser extent Shrewsbury, provide urban touches to Housman’s poems; but these were very small towns in 1896, when the collection was first published. Ludlow, a market town, is the site of fairs and taverns where Housman’s lads can drink beer and socialize with one another, thereby providing the congenial memories looked back on with fondness in the poetry.
*London
*London. Great Britain’s capital city is depicted as a bustling metropolis with values different from those in the country. Here country lads may get lost, sometimes never returning to the solace of Shropshire.
Remote foreign lands
Remote foreign lands. Exotic places such as the Nile River, where Shropshire soldiers are serving the British Empire, are occasionally used to evoke homesickness for Shropshire.
Bibliography
Graves, Richard Perceval. A. E. Housman: The Scholar-Poet. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980. An outstanding critical biography, which connects Housman’s work as a Latin scholar and teacher with his poetry, most particularly with A Shropshire Lad.
Leggett, B. J. Housman’s Land of Lost Content. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1970. A good overview of A Shropshire Lad with close readings of individual poems. Considers carefully the themes of change, loss, and the quest for permanence in Housman’s poetry. Includes an excellent bibliography.
Leggett, B. J. The Poetic Art of A. E. Housman: Theory and Practice. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978. A reevaluation of Housman’s place in the canon of modern poetry. A Shropshire Lad is the core work discussed in evaluating Housman’s relationship to modern critics such as C. Day Lewis and T. S. Eliot. Housman’s own works of criticism are considered in the light of his poetry.
Marlow, Norman. A. E. Housman, Scholar and Poet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1958. Considers influences on Housman’s poetry and focuses in particular on A Shropshire Lad. Examines the influence of Greek and Latin poetry, Shakespeare, the Bible, John Milton, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Heinrich Heine, Rudyard Kipling, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Andrew Lang, as well as folk influences such as border ballads and folk songs.
Page, Norman. A. E. Housman: A Critical Biography. New York: Schocken Books, 1983. Discusses Housman’s poetry, especially A Shropshire Lad, as a special strain divorced from everyday life although influenced by it. Shows that Housman’s poetry was written and revised over long periods and therefore difficult to correlate with his life.