A. E. Housman self-published his collection of poems in the late 19th century. After finally graduating from university, he capped his education with this collection of autobiographical poems. He was a good student who surprised everyone by failing his exams. One can conclude from his poetry, which is predominantly preoccupied with existential pain and death, that he was depressed. No doubt this contributed to his struggle with studying for exams.
Housman's poetry is honest. Without venturing too far into the flowery realm of poetic language, he muses about grand philosophical ideas. He talks indirectly about his life experience, commemorating important occasions and detailing profound thoughts. Overall, he is concerned with the pointless nature of existence, which tends to manifest in a romanticized relationship with death. Repeatedly his poems return to ideas of death, the unreliable nature of reality, and of fate. As a picture into the mind of a troubled twenty-something in the 19th century, the collection proves illuminating. Housman was an adolescent with a lot of questions who didn't quite fit in with his peers. His poetry serves to remind fellow young people that their experience isn't isolate, in fact there are so many people with whom they can relate.
