Alfred Edward Housman is best remembered today for A Shropshire Lad, a cycle of poems celebrating the English countryside. He is seen as one of the first poets to embody a sense of ‘Englishness’ which came to dominate the Edwardian age.

He was born in Fockbury in Worcestershire in 1859. He was one of seven children, 3 of whom: AE, Clemence and Laurence; became writers. His birthplace is visible from the road the runs through the village: a large, sprawling farmhouse, nestling into the wooded hillside. AE only lived in this house for a year, for the family moved into Bromsgrove, where his father was a solicitor.

He was Baptised in Christ Church, Catshill, where his grandfather was the vicar. There is a pleasant, but tiny little church here with a heavily wooded churchyard. AE’s father planted a chestnut tree for each of his seven children. I found a couple of chestnut trees, in the churchyard but couldn’t tell if these were the Housman ones. There is also a cherry tree, planted by the Japanese Housman society, in remembrance of one of his best-loved poems:

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

AE Housman, A Shropshire Lad

Despite his family’s religious past, AE was an atheist. Churches in his poems are like mountains and trees: they punctuate the landscape, adding to its beauty but giving no further spiritual insight. In fact, the landscape itself offers greater spiritual depth than ecclesiastical buildings.

The family first moved to Bromsgrove in 1860, and AE was later to attend Bromsgrove School, where his home is now one of the school houses. It is now the only mixed Boarding House in the school, but still bears the name of Housman Hall in the poet’s honour. When AE was 12 years old, his mother died. This, of course, had a profound affect on a young boy who was already quiet and reclusive.

The Housman family, along with their father’s new wife, moved to Fockbury House, which has since been demolished and replaced. It was known as the Clock House and the modern house which now stands on the site has been given a clock tower as a reference to it. The family only lived here for five years, but these were AE’s teenage years. He was spending his time wandering the countryside that surrounded his house and developing an interest for classical literature and history. The family lived here from from 1873 to 1878 when they moved to back to Bromsgrove.

Bromsgrove is a pleasant little midlands town, much expanded in the 19th century with the arrival of the railways. There is a pedestrianised High Street, with the usual selection of shops, restaurants and cafés. A statue of AE Housman stands proudly amidst the shoppers, and looked stately even on the grey day when I visited. His favourite pub, The Shoulder of Mutton, is still there, though it is now a holistic therapy centre. I wasn’t in the mood for any holistic treatments as my chi was in balance but I did visit the café where I had coffee and cake and sat for a while contemplating my surroundings.

We drove to the top of Worm’s Ash next, also known as ‘Housman Hill’ as it commands fine views over the Worcestershire and Shropshire countryside. From here you can see Bredon Hill, the Malverns, the Abberley Hills and the Shropshire Clees, which appear in A Shropshire Lad as the ‘blue remembered hills’:

Into my heart an air that kills from yon far mountain blows
what are those blue remembered hills, what spires what farms are those?
That is the land of lost content; I see it shining plain
Those happy highways where I went and cannot come again.

AE Housman, A Shropshire Lad

It wasn’t a very clear day but I could hills in the distance. The hilltop is occupied by a radio mast, so you can’t get access to the summit, but there is a gate on the north-west side of the road from which you can see the Shropshire Clees to the West, and another gate next to the mast which gives a view over Bromsgrove. It wasn’t a very clear day but I was able to see the hills in the distance, which had taken on an appropriately blue hue.

His poetry is unmistakably modernist in nature but borrows from the Shakespearean tradition of the pastoral, with the countryside offering peace and tranquility in an ever changing world. An ever present reminder of a lost and receding past. He writes in a similar way to Thomas Hardy: there is an adoration of the countryside, of rural scenes and rural people, who are depicted as the honest, hardworking backbone of the British people.

The ‘Lad’ of the title is a character not identifiable with Housman himself. In fact, there are a number of characters whose thoughts and feelings are explored through the poems There is a soldier, a farmer, even the ghosts of the dead contribute to the narrative. Many of the descriptions were written from imagination or from second-hand accounts, as Housman had never visited Shropshire. He was surprised to discover, on later visiting the county, that he had many of the details wrong. Most of the poem was written in London, when AE lived in Highgate, in Byron cottage, which you can still see opposite Highgate School.

A Shropshire Lad was hugely influential. it became loved by song writers particularly and several song cycles, including one by Vaughan-Williams, were based on his bucolic work. The poem’s increase in popularity was such that, by the time of the First World War, A Shropshire Lad had become a beloved possession of many young men who were far from home and dreaming of childhood.

If you haven’t read A Shropshire Lad, I urge you to: it is short, accessible and the writing is beautiful.