Arthur Hallam's early death was the subject of Tennyson's celebrated poem In Memoriam. As a result of its popularity, Hallam became a legendary figure, very much accepted on Tennyson's terms as being almost divinely gifted and of immense promise. While this representation of Hallam has remained generally accepted, A Life Lived Quickly' seeks both to supplement and challenge it, offering a more detailed and objective portrait of the man. That Hallam has a difficult relationship with his father (himself a famous literary figure), suffered a mental breakdown during his first year at Cambridge, and pursued an extremely fraught love affair with Tennyson's sister in the face of opposition from both families, are important but largely unknown aspects of his life. The author also repudiates the often-made suggestion that Hallam and Tennyson may have had a homosexual relationship. As well as examining Hallam's published writings, the book makes liberal use of his letters, of which a collected edition has been in existence since 1981, and includes treatments of hitherto unpublished poems and more recently discovered letters. Apart from presenting Arthur Hallam as a complex and interesting character in his own right, the book offers insight into the literary culture of early nineteenth-century England. In devoting attention to Hallam's time at Eton and Cambridge, the book also deals in detail with the experience of being educated in those unreformed institutions.

A.E. Housman's poetry (especially A Shropshire Lad) remains well-known, widely read and often quoted. However, Housman did not view himself as a professional poet, always making quite clear that his proper job' was as a Professor of Latin. Housman's fame as a poet has often obscured the fact that he was the leading British classical scholar of his generation, and a Cambridge Professor. It has also sometimes been suggested that Housman's two areas of activity are the sign of a flawed or divided' personality. A.E. Housman: A Single Life argues that there is no fundamental tension between Housman the poet and Housman the scholar, and his career is presented very much as that of a working academic who also wrote poetry. The book gives a full account of what Housman described as the great and real troubles of my early manhood', and in particular his unrequited and life-long love for his undergraduate friend Moses Jackson. It resists the temptation to classify Housman too exclusively as a melancholic, and is sceptical about Housman's reputed rudeness and misanthropy, pointing out that, though Housman was famously aloof in manner, he was notably loyal and generous, courteous in his daily dealings and generally liked by those who knew him. He also possessed a highly developed sense of the absurd and a ready and often disconcerting wit, features which characterised not only his letters and miscellaneous writings, but also, famously, much of his scholarly work.

Samuel Rogers was arguably the most widely read poet of the early nineteenth century. He was also a prominent figure in the literary and cultural life of London and owned one of the largest private art collections of his day. He was well known to at least three generations of celebrated figures, ranging from John Wilkes and Dr. Burney, through Wordsworth, Scott and Byron, to Tennyson, Dickens and Ruskin. He was also associated with other prominent national figures such as Charles James Fox, Joseph Priestley, Lord Holland, and the Duke of Wellington. Known throughout his life (not always sympathetically) as the Banker Poet', he came from a radical, Dissenting background. He was supportive of the French Revolution and politically active in the 1790s when to be so involved personal danger (he attended the treason trials of Tom Paine and Horne Tooke). Nevertheless he considered his true vocation to be poetry and achieved considerable success and fame when The Pleasures of Memory was published in 1792. Ten years later he retired' to a civilised home in St. James's Place where his breakfast and dinner parties were legendary. His art collection attracted visitors from all over the world, and his poem Italy, composed after an extended tour there in 1815, was widely read. Martin Blocksidge considers the nature of Rogers' poetry and the reputation it acquired, and examines its cultural context; likewise Rogers' connoisseurship of paintings. Rogers was famous, but controversial, provoking some distaste and consequent satirical treatment, most notably from his erstwhile friend, Byron. Biographical and interdisciplinary, this narrative is relevant not only to literary historians but to those interested in the history of Dissenting and radical groups, picturesque travel, art history and the cultural history of London.

This collection of essays - written by experienced practitioners - seeks to define, or at least report on, the current position of Shakespeare in schools, colleges and other educational environments. Its primary purpose is to examine how, where and why Shakespeare manifests himself in the educational experience of school and college students today. The seven contributors address key topics such as making Shakespeare our contemporary, teaching Shakespeare at a comprehensive school and the work of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.>

Which texts do we teach and why? What assumptions - intellectual, cultural and emotional - are involved in teaching these texts? And what can teachers learn from each other's practice? Teaching Literature 11-18 answers these important and ambitious questions through a reflective study of prose, poetry and drama across the age range, including much of the neglected area of teaching students beyond the age of 16. In the process, the essays in this book provide a valuable and lucid outline of the state of literature teaching in schools. They show conclusively that, despite the pressures under which the profession works, there are strong grounds for optimism. Martin Blocksidge is Chairman of the English Association and Director of Studies at St Dunstan's College, London.