A Shropshire Lad Essay -- essays research papers fc

Shropshire A Place of Imagined Sexual rejoicingPublished in 1869, A.E. Housmans A Shropshire Lad stands as maven of the most socially acclaimed collections of side poetry from the Victorian age. This period in British history, however, proves, by judiciary focus (the Criminal Law Amendment of 1885), to be conflictive with Housmans induce home(a) conflicts concerning the homoerotic tendencies which he discovered in his admiration of fellow Oxford student Moses Jackson. Housman, much unlike other English literary figures such(prenominal) as Oscar Wilde and Thomas hardy, was not an artist who form it necessary to directly confront Britain with any political dissention imposed by is works. Instead, "for Housman the discovery of self was so disturbing and disconcerting that poetry came as a way of disclosing it" (Bayley 44). The county of Shropshire is primordial to much of his poetry, provided it is employed barely as "a personification of the writers memories, dream s and affections" meanwhile, Housmans central character is wholeness "who could at once be himself and not himself" (Scott-Kilvert 26). In what Housman himself regarded to be one of his best poems, "XXVII Is my squad ploughing," the focus is laid upon a conversation between a gone man and one of his friends from his previous life (Housman 18). "XXII The street sounds to the soldiers tread" meanwhile, expresses an emotional oppugn discovered in the eyes of a passing soldier (Housman 15). two the ambiguous quality of the dead mans last heading (18 ll. 25-26) in poem XXVII and the nature of the chance encounter in XXII stand to exemplify the subtle undercurrent of Housmans own enigmatic sexual activity."Is my team ploughing" is in the form of "the primitive lay metres, which Housman revived," and primarily "employed for a poetry not of action but of introspection" (Scott-Kilvert 25). The piece begins by the dead mans sceptica l of such trivialities as his "team" (l. 1) that he "used to drive" (l. 2), and "football" (l. 9) being played "Along the river shore" (l. 10). The other speaker responds to the dead mans questions with a partially abrasive tone as can be interpreted by lines 7-8 in which ... ...t some insincerity therein. It must be said in conclusion if these works do in fact mirror the "thoughts at heart" within Housman, that his sexuality combined with his philosophy of love culminate in an intensely masochistic lifestyle. Such is reflected by the guilt that is obviously associated by the speaker of "Is my team ploughing" deciding to take his dead friends sweetheart. In poem XXII the speaker relays the contentment which he finds in the joint emotions of love between he and the redcoat, but at the same snip XXVII relays the frustrations ultimately found in being alone. To invest such emotional intensity only to knowingly find unrequited perspect ives manifests itself as personified hope in both poems of which speak of experiences of intimate gratification and internal content. chokes CitedBayley, John. Housmans Poems. Clarendons Press, Oxford. 1992.Hoagwood, Terrence Allen. A.E Housman Revisited. Twayne Publishers, N.Y. 1995.Housman, A.E. A Shropshire Lad. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum. General Publishing Co., Ltd., Toronto. 1990.Scott-Kilvert, Ian. A.E. Housman Writers and Their Work No. 69. Longmans, Green and Co., London. 1965.