A. E. Housman: A Critical Biography

256 Pages·1983·23.772 MB·English

by  Norman Page (auth.)

A Critical Biography
A. E. HOUSMAN
A Critical Biography
By the same author
THE LANGUAGE OF JANE AUSTEN
SPEECH IN THE ENGLISH NOVEL
THOMAS HARDY
THOMAS HARDY: The Writer and his Background (editor)
WILKIE COLLINS: The Critical Heritage (editor)
NABOKOV: The Critical Heritage (editor)
A DICKENS COMPANION
D. H. LAWRENCE: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
TENNYSON: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
HENRY JAMES: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
E. M. FORSTER'S POSTHUMOUS FICTION
A KIPLING COMPANION
THOMAS HARDY ANNUAL
I
"".,.1
\
,
I
\ I
/
A. E. Housman by Francis Dodd
(National Portrait Gallery)
A. E. HOUSMAN
A Critical Biography
Norman Page
©
Norman Page 1983
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1983
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1983 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-06551-6 ISBN 978-1-349-06549-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06549-3
ToBen
Contents
A. E. Housman frontispiece
List of Plates Vill
Acknowledgments IX
Note on the Referencing System Xl
Introduction: 'All that need be known'
A Worcestershire Lad 16
2 Oxford 29
3 The Years of Penance 47
4 'Picked out of the gutter' 64
5 Cambridge I 96
6 Cambridge II 128
7 The Scholar 162
8 The Poet 179
Epilogue 207
Notes and References 209
Index 232
Vll
List of Plates
(a) Alfred, aged 7, with his brother Robert, aged 5 (Mr
N. V. H. Symons andJ. M. C. Pugh); (b) Alfred Housman at
the age of eighteen (Mr N. V. H. Symons andJ. M. C. Pugh)
2 Family chart (incomplete) drawn up by Housman in 1908 (by
kind permission of Mr Robert Symons and the Society of
Authors)
3 The crew of StJohn's College, Oxford, 1880; MosesJackson is
on the extreme right (Stjohn's College, Oxford)
4 (a) Moses Jackson in later life (Mr Gerald Symons); (b)
Housman at the age of thirty-five (Mr Gerald Symons)
5 Caricature of Housman at University College by Mortimer
(later Sir Mortimer) Wheeler (by kind permission of Mr
Michael Wheeler, QC)
6 Extracts from Housman's diary (by kind permission of Mr
Robert Symons, the Society of Authors and the British
Library)
7 (a) Housman in about 1911 (Mr Gerald Symons); (b)
Housman at seventy: his passport photograph (Mr Gerald
Symons)
8 Housman's last correspondence: a postcard to his sister
(Katharine Symons) written five days before his death; the
date and day have been added in another hand (Trinity
College, Cambridge)
The publishers wish particularly to thank Mr and Mrs G.
Symons, Mr Robert Symons and the Society of Authors, as the
literary representative of the Estate of A. E. Housman, for their
patience during the illustration research.
Vlll
Acknowledgments
One of the most pleasant aspects of engaging in scholarly research
is the amount offriendliness, generosity, and kindness beyond the
call of duty that one encounters; and it is as no mere matter ofform
that I acknowledge some of my debts to those who have assisted
me in a wide variety of ways. Professor Edward Griew and Mr
John Sparrow read a draft of this book; without their scrupulous,
expert and patient criticisms the final version would contain many
more inaccuracies and infelicities. Mr Henry Maas, the editor of
Housman's letters, generously placed at my disposal his files,
including those of letters he had collected but not included in his
edition. Mr Paul Naiditch has been, on many occasions, a mine of
precise and accurate information. Among the many institutions
whose staffs have come to my help I should like especially to
mention the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Mr Trevor
Kaye and Miss Rosemary Graham); the Library of Magdalene
College, Cambridge (the Pepys Librarian, Mr R. C. Latham, and
Mrs Coleman); the London Library; the Library of University
College, London (MrsJ. Percival); the British Museum (Miss K.
Janet Wallace); Ramsgate Library (Mr C. E. Busson); and, by no
means least, the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress.
I am also grateful for information and assistance to Professor
Robert Ackerman; Mr Frederick B. Adams, Jr; Professor D. R.
Shackleton Bailey; Professor William M. Calder III; Mr Stephen
Calvert; Professor Glyn Daniel; Professor Leonard Findlay; Mr
Martin Higham; Mr David Newsome; Mr Richard Palmer; Dr L.
Pars; Mrs Margaret M. Phillips; the Rt Hon. J. Enoch Powell;
the late Professor I. A. Richards; Mr Jeffrey Weeks; Mr L. P.
Wilkinson. lowe a considerable debt of gratitude to the John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for a fellowship that
enabled me to concentrate on writing this book in 1979/80, and to
the University of Alberta for providing me with leisure and with
financial and research assistance; also to Mr William Barclay for
assistance with the notes and the index, and to Mrs Marguerite
IX