Here dead lie we because we did not choose to live and shame the land from which we sprung. Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose; but young men think it is, and we were young.

Through its song-setting the poetry became closely associated with that era and with Shropshire itself. : /ˈhaʊsmən/; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) usually known as A. Housman was counted one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars of all time.