Page "A. E. Housman" Paragraph 9

During his years in London, A. E. Housman completed A Shropshire Lad, a cycle of 63 poems.

After several publishers had turned it down, he published it at his own expense in 1896.

The volume surprised both his colleagues and students.

At first selling slowly, it rapidly became a lasting success, and its appeal to English musicians had helped to make it widely known before World War I, when its themes struck a powerful chord with English readers.

A Shropshire Lad has been in print continuously since May 1896.