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The lyric poems of Horace and Housman are two enigmatic bodies of work that have much in common, and a close reading of each poet´s writings can illuminate the other´s. This is the first book to provide a detailed, critical comparison between these two poets, and also the first to make use of Housman´s unpublished lectures on Horace.

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Preface Dedication 1. Introduction 2. Pessimism and Pejorism 3. Spring and Death 4. Horace´s Attitude to Religion 5. Religion and Politics in Housman 6. Horace and Politics 7. Questions of Integrity and Consistency 8. Form and Content 9. Housman, Literary Criticism, and the Classics 10. Housman´s Criticism of Horace Bibliography

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´There has been no previous study if its kind Gaskin´s book is a genuine contribution to the knowledge of Horace, of classical scholarship, and of Housman, commanding an impressive range of skills. Gaskin is equally in his element when discussing the minutiae of textual emendation, Housman´s kind of textual scholarship, and Housman´s temperament.´ - Archie Burnett, Co-director of the Editorial Institute and Professor of English, Boston University, USA

"This lively, original, and elegantly written work treats two poets who can rightly be viewed as closely connected, and not merely through Housman´s expertise as Latin scholar: Housman and Horace share a painstaking attention to poetic form and a number of key themes. It is written from a humanist and wide cultural perspective, especially in its extensive and important use of the German scholarship and poetry so relevant to Housman, and will be accessible and welcome to students of comparative literature as well as classical scholars and English specialists. It clearly demonstrates that classically educated critics have much to contribute to the interpretation of classically influenced poetry in English." - Stephen Harrison, Professor of Latin Literature, University of Oxford, UK

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Richard Gaskin is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK.

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