Comic and Curious Verse: Argo Classics

by A.E. Housman, John Gielgud (Reading)

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present Argo Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world's most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.

A collection of the funny, curious verse written during the 19th and 20th centuries, read by some of Britain's most renowned actors. Humorous and whimsical verse are collated together in these timeless readings of poetry from our funniest writers. Performed by Sir John Gielgud; Imogen Stubbs; Tim Pigott-Smith; Peter Orr; Wendy Hillier. This collection includes poems from: A.E. Housman

Benjamin Franklin King

J.K. Stephen

A.C. Swinburne

Lewis Carroll

Thomas Hardy

W.S. Gilbert

Edward Lear

William McGonagall

A.H. Clough

Robert Barnabas Brough

Thomas Grey

Lord Byron

Walter Raleigh

Oliver Goldsmith

George Canning

John Dryden

Samuel C. Boston

H.C. Beeching

C.S. Calverley

William Walsh

W.M. Thackeray

George Coleman

Hartley Coleridge

Charles Cros

George Du Maurier

W.R. Mardale

Matthew Prior

Earl Of Rochester

Thomas Love Peacock

Thomas Hood

Harry Graham

1 pages, Audio CD

First published November 19, 2020

About the author

A Shropshire Lad (1896) and Last Poems (1922) apparently published works of British poet and scholar Alfred Edward Housman, brother of Laurence Housman and Clemence Housman.

To his fellow noted classicists, his critical editing of Manilius earned him enduring fame.

The eldest of seven children and a gifted student, Housman won a scholarship to Oxford, where he performed well but for various reasons neglected philosophy and ancient history subjects that failed to pique his interest and consequently failed to gain a degree. Frustrated, he gained at job as a patent clerk but continued his research in the classical studies and published a variety of well-regarded papers. After a decade with such his reputation, he ably obtain a position at University College London in 1902. In 1911, he took the Kennedy professorship of Latin at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he remained for the rest of his life.

As a scholar, Housman concentrated on Latin. He published a five-volume critical edition, the definitive text, of his work on " Astronomica " of Manilus from 1903 to 1930. Housman the poet produced lyrics that express a Romantic pessimism in a spare, simple style. In some of the asperity and directness in lyrics and also scholarship, Housman defended common sense with a sarcastic wit that helped to make him widely feared.

There are several biographies of Housman, and a The Housman Society http://www.housman-society.co.uk/