"Oh Who Is That Young Sinner?" by A.E. Housman (poetry reading)

All right, what's it about? You might well be baffled, because it's about a subject that couldn't be mentioned at the time it was written.

It's about "the love that dare not speak it's name" - homosexuality, a subject near to Housman's heart. It was prompted, almost certainly, by the trial of Oscar Wilde.

"Begger" is euphemism for "bugger", in case you missed it.

Later note. I don't now think the picture is A E Housman, I think it was misidentified and it is his brother Lawrence

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• young
• sinner
• housman
• poem
• poetry
• reading

[Krast0rMG]

The saddest thing about this poem, in my opinion, is that nowadays there is genuinely prejudice about hair colour. AE Housman chose this as a ridiculous example that he could compare to homophobic prejudice - something that people would see as an incredible (in the original definition) thing to judge someone on. However now, people are truly judged on this. How ironic and sad that we cannot simply accept everyone and move on, together, to improve our world.

[SpokenVerse]

In the mating game, prejudice against ginger hair seems to be just a British phenomenon against males only. Women seem afraid of the eventuality of having "ginger twins". The pre raphaelites liked their redheads. If I were a young red haired male I'd be tempted to try my luck in America.

[groundedsax]

I'm a ginger...

[fahrenheit45one]

This is one of the few poems i can recite from memory. Historically, it is very important.

[wickedfan7681]

beautiful reading. The underlying of the Wilde trail shines clearly.

[nAthAnxhAAg]

this is so wonderful. it's about being gay

[paulmercy]

Housman's gift is that he works simple constructions and simple vocabulary into something at once subtle and powerful... a perfect example of the whole being much more than the sum of its parts. He is so inspiring that I even wrote a song as an homage to the "A Shropshire Lad" cycle.

"And I am two and twenty... And oh, 'tis true 'tis true" - I use this line in conversation quite often, and receive blank stares. No-one reads anymore.

[HughJason]

Your reading is even more powerful than Alan Bennett's. Is it true that Housman never published the poem ?

[written12]

A powerful little poem. I heard that when Wilde's conviction was announced the trains headed for the English Channel that evening filled up with young men desperate to make it to France.