Horace and Housman

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 1-16

3. Pessimism and Pejorism

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 17-41

4. Spring and Death

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 43-61

5. Horace’s Attitude to Religion

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 63-75

6. Religion and Politics in Housman

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 77-89

7. Horace and Politics

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 91-115

8. Questions of Integrity and Consistency

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 117-145

9. Form and Content

   • Richard Gaskin

   Pages 147-172

10. Housman, Literary Criticism, and the Classics

    • Richard Gaskin

    Pages 173-197

11. Housman’s Criticism of Horace

    • Richard Gaskin

    Pages 199-222

12. Back Matter

    Pages 223-266

    PDF

The lyric poems of Horace and Housman are two enigmatic bodies of work that have much in common, and a close reading of each poet's writings can illuminate the other's. This is the first book to provide a detailed, critical comparison between these two poets, and also the first to make use of Housman's unpublished lectures on Horace.

• literary criticism
• lyric
• Ovid
• poem
• British and Irish Literature

'There has been no previous study if its kind Gaskin's book is a genuine contribution to the knowledge of Horace, of classical scholarship, and of Housman, commanding an impressive range of skills. Gaskin is equally in his element when discussing the minutiae of textual emendation, Housman's kind of textual scholarship, and Housman's temperament.' - Archie Burnett, Co-director of the Editorial Institute and Professor of English, Boston University, USA

"This lively, original, and elegantly written work treats two poets who can rightly be viewed as closely connected, and not merely through Housman's expertise as Latin scholar: Housman and Horace share a painstaking attention to poetic form and a number of key themes. It is written from a humanist and wide cultural perspective, especially in its extensive and important use of the German scholarship and poetry so relevant to Housman, and will be accessible and welcome to students of comparative literature as well as classical scholars and English specialists. It clearly demonstrates that classically educated critics have much to contribute to the interpretation of classically influenced poetry in English." - Stephen Harrison, Professor of Latin Literature, University of Oxford, UK

Richard Gaskin is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK.

Policies and ethics