A E Houseman spent his life as an academic, who despite his harsh words and arrogant behaviour was admired by his peers. In his early years he was besotted with Moses Jackson, a fellow student at Oxford who sadly for Houseman did not return his advances and who himself was fiercely heterosexual with no time for those who were of a homosexual persuasion. Houseman never married but concentrated himself in the world of academia becoming a greatly respected scholar and professor at Cambridge university. His poetry was admired during his lifetime with his book, A Shropshire Lad being recognised as a great addition to English Poetry.

The music is a modern take on the mental turmoil Houseman would have gone through as he tried to find his place in the world. Anchors great rendition of Houseman’s poem has been slightly rephrased by myself but the vocal has been left alone and is how Anchor sang it.