What is the primary theme of A.E. Housman's collection 'A Shropshire Lad'?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: The transience of youth and the certainty of death
Housman's poems are marked by a pessimistic, pastoral nostalgia. They frequently dwell on 'the lads who will never grow old' and the transient beauty of the English countryside.
Keep practicing
More Victorian Poetry questions
- Which poem by Robert Browning features an Italian Renaissance painter discussing his technical skill and moral failings?
- The 'Fleshly School of Poetry' was a derogatory term applied to which group by the critic Robert Buchanan?
- In 'The Lady of Shalott', what happens when the Lady looks directly toward Camelot?
- Which Victorian poet wrote 'Invictus', known for its defiant spirit against adversity?
- Algernon Charles Swinburne was notorious for poetry that focused on which controversial themes?
- What is the 'curse' affecting the protagonist in Tennyson's 'The Lotus-Eaters'?