A. E. Housman\u2019s grave at St. Laurence\u2019s Church, Ludlow, Shropshire, England
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time again, perhaps, for one of my favorite poems.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very fond of the excellent second-tier English poet A. E. Housman (d. 1936), who, along with writing such works as \u201cTo an athlete dying young,\u201d from\u00a0A Shropshire Lad<\/em>, was a distinguished\u00a0classicist at the University of Cambridge. \u00a0The melancholy mood of many of his poems speaks to me. \u00a0I\u2019ve even made a minor pilgrimage to his grave.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Housman was an atheist, and sometimes a hostile one. \u00a0But he had moments of yearning. \u00a0This poem, entitled \u201cEaster Hymn,\u201d captures those feelings of longing for a belief that, in the end, he simply couldn\u2019t muster:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If in that Syrian garden, ages slain,\r\nYou sleep, and know not you are dead in vain,\r\nNor even in dreams behold how dark and bright\r\nAscends in smoke and fire by day and night\r\nThe hate you died to quench and could but fan,\r\nSleep well and see no morning, son of man.\r\n \r\nBut if, the grave rent and the stone rolled by,\r\nAt the right hand of majesty on high\r\nYou sit, and sitting so remember yet\r\nYour tears, your agony and bloody sweat,\r\nYour cross and passion and the life you gave,\r\nBow hither out of heaven and see and save.<\/pre>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Twin Falls, Idaho<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 It\u2019s time again, perhaps, for one of my favorite poems. \u00a0 I\u2019m very fond of the excellent second-tier English poet A. E. Housman (d. 1936), who, along with writing such works as \u201cTo an athlete dying young,\u201d from\u00a0A Shropshire Lad, was a distinguished\u00a0classicist at the University of Cambridge. \u00a0The melancholy mood of many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Housman](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/03\/640px-Housman_Grave.jpg\")
<\/a>