Alfred Edward Houseman, a famous British pessimist poet, is still popular among British people as a master of pastoral, patriotic and nostalgic creations.
Born in a lawyer's family in Worcestershire, he loved writing poetry since he was a child. My mother died when I was 12 years old, which was a huge mental shock. Studied ancient Greek and Roman literature at Oxford University. From 1882 to 1892, he worked as a clerk in the Patent Registration Office in London. He continued to study Greek and Roman literature and became a famous colloquialist of ancient Roman literature. After that, he taught at Cambridge University for a long time until his death.
Haussmann wrote nearly 200 poems in his spare time from research work. In 1896, he published his first collection of poems, "A Boy from Shropshire", at his own expense, and his poetry has been famous ever since. In 1922, "The Last Poetry" was published, which achieved greater success. After his death, his younger brother, the playwright Lawrence Houseman, compiled his posthumous manuscripts into "Collected Poems," which was published in 1936 and his biography was titled "My Brother A. E. Houseman." 》.
Hausman's poetic style is unique, imitating British folk songs, deliberately pursuing simplicity and simplicity, and using the simplest common vocabulary to achieve the musical beauty of poetry. Most of the contents of his poems lament that youth is fleeting, beautiful scenery is not permanent, lovers are heartless, friends are changeable, nature is beautiful but cruel and ruthless, and the pursuit of life is illusory and dreamlike. There is a profound pessimism in his poems, but at the same time he also shows sympathy for the suffering ordinary people.