Editing A. E. Housman (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Birthplace of A.E. Housman.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Valley House, Housman's birthplace]]
[[File:Fockbury House or The Clock House.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The site of the 17th-century Fockbury House (later known as The Clock House). Home of Housman from 1873 to 1878]]
[[File:Perry Hall, Home of A.E. Housman.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Home of Housman from 1860 to 1873 and again from 1878 to 1882. His younger brother Laurence was born here in 1865.]]

The eldest of seven children, Housman was born at Valley House in Fockbury, a hamlet on the outskirts of [[Bromsgrove]] in Worcestershire, to Sarah Jane (née Williams, married 17 June 1858 in [[Woodchester]], Gloucester)<ref>"[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NLCJ-D3D England Marriages, 1538–1973 for Edward Housman]", Baptism record via Family Search.org</ref> and Edward Housman (whose family came from [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]]), and was baptised on 24 April 1859 at Christ Church, in [[Catshill]].<ref>"[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5YC-NZZ England Births and Christenings, 1538–1975 for Alfred Edward Housman]", Baptism record via Family Search.org</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://christchurch.bromsgrove.church/ |title=Christ Church Catshill |access-date=22 November 2016 |archive-date=30 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330184158/http://christchurch.bromsgrove.church/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref Name="Poets">{{cite web| url = http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/631| title = Profile at Poets.org}}</ref> His mother died on his twelfth birthday, and his father, a country solicitor, then [[Cousin marriage|married an elder cousin]], Lucy, in 1873. Two of his siblings became prominent writers, sister [[Clemence Housman]] and brother [[Laurence Housman]].

Housman was educated at [[King Edward's School, Birmingham|King Edward's School]] in [[Birmingham]] and later [[Bromsgrove School]], where he revealed his academic promise and won prizes for his poems.<ref Name="Poets" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Housman's 150th birthday|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2009/01/30/housman_feature.shtml|publisher=BBC|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref> In 1877, he won an open scholarship to [[St John's College, Oxford]], and went there to study [[classics]].<ref Name="Poets" /> Although [[introversion|introverted]] by nature, Housman formed strong friendships with two roommates, Moses John Jackson (1858 – 14 January 1923) and [[Alfred W. Pollard|A. W. Pollard]]. Though Housman obtained a first in classical [[Moderations]] in 1879, his dedication to textual analysis led him to neglect the ancient history and philosophy that formed part of the [[Literae Humaniores|Greats]] curriculum. Accordingly, he failed his [[Final examination|Finals]] and had to return humiliated in [[Michaelmas term]] to resit the exam and at least gain a lower-level [[Academic degree#United Kingdom|pass degree]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZb90uvtg20C&q=housman+%22pass+degree%22&pg=PA202|title=''A. E. Housman at University College, London: The Election of 1892''|author=P. G. Naiditch|year=1988|publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004088482|access-date=31 December 2017}}</ref><ref Name ="Poets" /> Though some attribute Housman's unexpected performance in his exams directly to his unrequited feelings for Jackson,<ref>Cunningham (2000) p. 981.</ref> most biographers adduce more obvious causes. Housman was indifferent to philosophy and overconfident in his exceptional gifts, and he spent too much time with his friends. He may also have been distracted by news of his father's desperate illness.<ref>Norman Page, Macmillan, London (1983) ''A. E. Housman: A Critical Biography'' pp. 43–46</ref><ref>Richard Perceval Graves, ''A. E. Housman: The Scholar-Poet'' [[Charles Scribner's Sons]], New York (1979) pp. 52–55.</ref><ref>Charles Oscar Brink, ''English Classical Scholarship'' p. 152</ref>

After Oxford, Jackson went to work as a [[patent examiner|clerk]] in the [[Patent Office]] in London and he also arranged a job there for Housman.<ref Name="Poets" /> The two shared a flat at 82 Talbot Road,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A. E. Housman – W2 |url=https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/a-e-housman-w2 |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=London Remembers |language=en}}</ref> [[Bayswater]], with Jackson's brother Adalbert until 1885, when Housman moved to lodgings of his own, probably after Jackson responded to a declaration of love by telling Housman that he could not reciprocate his feelings.<ref>Summers (1995) p. 371</ref> Two years later, Jackson moved to India, placing more distance between himself and Housman. When he returned briefly to England in 1889 to marry, Housman was not invited to the wedding and knew nothing about it until the couple had left the country. Adalbert Jackson died in 1892 and Housman commemorated him in a poem published as "XLII – A.J.J." of ''[[More Poems]]'' (1936).

Meanwhile, Housman pursued his classical studies independently, and published scholarly articles on [[Horace]], [[Propertius]], [[Ovid]], [[Aeschylus]], [[Euripides]] and [[Sophocles]].<ref Name="Poets" /> He also completed an edition of [[Propertius]], which however was rejected by both [[Oxford University Press]] and [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] in 1885, and was destroyed after his death. He gradually acquired such a high reputation that in 1892 he was offered and accepted the professorship of Latin at [[University College London]] (UCL).<ref Name="Poets" /> When, during his tenure, an immensely rare [[Coverdale Bible]] of 1535 was discovered in the UCL library and presented to the Library Committee, Housman (who had become an atheist while at Oxford)<ref>Blocksidge, Martin. ''A. E. Housman: A Single Life''. N.p.: n.p., 2016</ref> remarked that it would be better to sell it to "buy some really useful books with the proceeds".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ricks|first1=Christopher|title=A. E. Housman. ''Collected Poems and Selected Prose''|date=1989|publisher=Penguin|location=Harmondsworth|page=18}}</ref>