A. E. Housman, English poet and scholar (b. 1859)
Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. His cycle of poems, A Shropshire Lad, wistfully evokes the mystery and beauty of his youth in the English countryside. The simplicity and distinctive imagery of the writing appealed strongly to late 19th century and early 20th-century English readers,. Through their song-settings, the poems became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself.

Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars at any time. He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar at first and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at the University of Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are still considered authoritative.