To mark the 50th anniversary of Housman Society, we are publishing a new, full colour photographic edition of A Shropshire Lad. The enduring appeal of this lyrical English poem, first published in 1896, lies in its exploration of the universal themes of loss, nostalgia and love. Certainly its international popularity today is undiminished. The rural landscape of the beautiful Shropshire countryside, from the bucolic Clun valley to the bleak hills of Stiperstones, is sympathetically captured by one of Shropshire's finest photographers, John Hayward. This is the only photographic edition of A Shropshire Lad in which the county's stunning landscapes, which have scarcely altered since Housman's day, have been matched with the stanzas on each page. AUTHOR: Born in 1859 in the village of Fockbury in Worcestershire, Alfred Edward Housman was the eldest of seven children. He was educated at Bromsgrove School and later read Classics at St. John's College, Oxford. His poem A Shropshire Lad was published in 1896. After a period as a Clerk in the Patent Office in London he returned to academia becoming Professor of Latin at Cambridge University. He died in 1936 and his ashes are interred in the shadow of the walls of St Laurence's church, Ludlow. John Hayward is a professional landscape photographer with a great passion for his native Shropshire. He is a Shropshire lad based in Shifnal. His stunning images appear in books, national newspapers and magazines, and are used extensively by top calendar and greetings card publishers. John runs the Shropshire and Beyond photographic library, which showcases the very best that the county has to offer. Research and the captioning in this book is by Lynne Hayward, a professional journalist who has worked on local and regional newspapers and now writes for national magazines. 91 colour photographs
