SOURCE: Stevenson, John W. “The State of Letters: A Shropshire Lad Reappraised.” Sewanee Review 105, no. 2 (spring 1997): 244-50.

In the following essay, Stevenson assesses the enduring popularity of A Shropshire Lad, despite its general neglect by scholars. He observes that the appeal of Housman's poetry lies in his strong sense of place, original main character, and use of traditional rhyme and meter.

The year 1896, not unlike our own late 1990s, was a time of looking ahead to a new century, as it was a time of looking backward. What was the promise of the coming twentieth century, and what of the nineteenth would be preserved? In England's literary circles during the 1890s poets like Beardsley, Dowson, Lionel Johnson, and Arthur Symons enjoyed a brief attention preaching the gospel of art for art's sake, and rejecting the old for a more sensuous, decadent style, one they hoped would spearhead the...