CONTENTS: Foreword, Introduction, 1. Housman: The Man and the Mask, 2. Fin de siecle: The Social and Poetical Scene, 3. 'The Stinging Nettle': Housman and His Critics, 4. Housman's Concept of Poetry: Harmonization of the Sadness of the Universe, 5. Housman's Prose: Refracted Poetic Technique, 6. Housman's Light Verse: Averted Nonsence, 7. Early Poems of Housman: Their Precocity and Promise, 8. Reins in Ice and Fire: The Poetry of Tension, 9. Conclusion, A Select Bibliography, Index.