AE Housman grave (26th March 1859 to 30th April 1936)

While visiting Ludlow I found myself looking down the north side of St Laurence's church for a cherry tree stump. I read it marked the spot where the poet AE Housman's ashes were buried. It must have been cut down as there's nothing there now - only a plaque marking the spot. Better than nothing.

Colin Dexter who wrote all those Inspector Morse novels loved this poet so I've read a few of his scribblings. They're very English - about pastoral beauty, unrequited love, fleeting youth, grief, death. Alfred Edward Housman was the eldest of seven children and he grew up in Bromsgrove. He had a unclogged scholar's brain and won a scholarship to St. John's College in Oxford. Mysteriously this bright spark failed his final exams and left without a degree. From ages 23 to 33 he worked in Her Majesty's Patent Office but in the evenings studied Latin and Greek. For a man without a degree he was oddly appointed Professor of Latin at University College in London and later took up the same position at Cambridge University.

He's mainly remembered for regretful and metrical poems, the famous collection being A Shropshire Lad  which he originally published at his own expense (he was a native of Worcestershire not Shropshire.) The poems present a nostalgic view of English country life though a deep sense of foreboding keeps them from floating away. He was probably homosexual and at Oxford University had fallen in love with a fellow undergraduate (and roommate) Moses Jackson who probably inspired some of the poems. Moses wasn't of that persuasion and later emigrated to India and married (AE was heartbroken. ) His works were poplar with soldiers and many carried a copy with them to the trenches. Despite achieving acclaim as a scholar and a poet during his lifetime AE lived as a recluse, rejecting honours and avoiding the public eye. He died aged 77 in 1936 in Cambridge.

Strolling around the church grounds I found a cherry tree and later read The Housman Society had planted it in line with one of the poet's lines:

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough."

Will someone plant a tree in your memory? Or spend thousands making a statue - there's one of the poet in Bromsgrove. Bit of a local hero. I did a salute and left.