A.E. Housman was a British scholar and poet. He attended Oxford University where he studied classical literature and philosophy. He later worked as a patent clerk where he studied Greek and Latin in his spare time. Housman went on to become a professor of Latin at University College London. His poetry was known for its romantic and melancholy tone stemming from personal grief over his mother's death and an unrequited love. Some of his most famous poems include "To an Athlete Dying Young" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty."

2. A. E. Housman
 1859-1936
 Attended Oxford University
 Classical literature, philosophy
 Worked in Patent Office
 Studied Greek and Latin at night
 Latin Professor- University
College in London

3. Housman‟s Writing
 Personal grief  Bitter undertones to poetry
 Mother died when he was 12
 Had an unrequited love
 Romantic, melancholy writing
 Goal = “transfuse emotion”
 “Poetry should affect a reader like a shiver down
the spine or a punch in the stomach”

4. Literary Terms: Review
 Feet: combination of syllables in poetry
 Iambic: unstressed, stressed
 The time ; trapeze
 “To be or not to be”
 Trochaic: stressed, unstressed
 Morning ; sadness
 “Tyger, Tyger, burning bright”

5. Literary Terms: Review
 Meter: determined by the number and
length of feet in a line
 Trimeter: 3 feet in a line
 Tetrameter: 4 feet in a line
 Pentameter: 5 feet in a line
 Your sonnets = iambic pentameter
(2 syllables per foot, 5 feet per line =
10 syllables per line)

6. “To an Athlete Dying Young”
1. Is the meter trimeter, tetrameter, or pentameter?
2. (1) Why are they carrying this man?
3. (2) Now why are they carrying this man?
4. (3) What does the speaker mean by “Early though
the laurel grows / It withers quicker than the rose”?
5. (4) Name 2 benefits of dying young.
6. (5) Name 1 benefit of dying young.
7. (7) Who will come to see him; what will they find?
8. Does Housman really mean what he says?

7. “When I Was One-and-Twenty”
1. What advice did the speaker get?
2. What does the speaker mean by “But I was
one-and-twenty, / No use to talk to me”?
3. What did he receive in exchange for his heart?
4. How do we know from the last two lines that
Housman is mocking the speaker?
“And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, „tis true, „tis true.”

8. Classwork
 Choose one of these types of poems to write a
similar one yourself.
1. “To an Athlete Dying Young”
-Console someone who has died or suffered a
loss by giving reasons why they are better
off, based on what they accomplished in life.
-Write 14 lines in iambic or trochaic tetrameter.
2. “When I was One-and-Twenty”
-Imagine you received advice at a young age but
did not take it. Describe the advice and what the
result was.
-Write 16 lines in iambic or trochaic trimeter.