Laurence Housman
Laurence Housman
Laurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth18 July 1865
bears born claims eighteenth family gradually july looks man remained sixth till
The man who bears my name, and who claims to be me, was born on July 15, 1865, the sixth in a family of seven. He was an ugly child, and remained ugly till his eighteenth year, when his looks gradually improved.
quite soon sure war
That was luck: I should not then have been a conscientious objector; but I am quite sure that the abominations of war would have made me one, as soon as I got to the front.
best bringing discovered home medieval subject
It was then, I think, that I discovered that the best way of bringing a medieval subject home to my generation was not to be medieval in its treatment.
faster mine poems wrote
My brother used to say that I wrote faster than he could read. He wrote two books - of poems - better than all mine put together.
author character groove life pursuit versatile works
Life is the most versatile thing under the sun; and in the pursuit of life and character the author who works in a groove works in blinkers.
novels poems tales
On that other novels followed: but I still wrote fairy tales and dreamy poems of another world.
advantage best chance francis happy hit might others remain series subject written
My best chance is that, in a happy moment, I hit upon St Francis as the subject for a series of plays. Others might have written them better: but, as I have written them, the advantage will probably remain mine.
brought caught contrary death drama love religion sincerest soul struggling toils
It is the sincerest thing I have written, caught by the drama of a soul struggling in the contrary toils of love and religion - death brought them into harmony.
gave godfather knew william
Two more years were to go by before I knew anything about William Blake. Many years later, when his wife died, my godfather gave me the two books as a remembrance.
abolish capital civilised countrymen hope suicide time
Suicide is possible, but not probable; hanging, I trust, is even more unlikely; for I hope that, by the time I die, my countrymen will have become civilised enough to abolish capital punishment.
acceptable dates except existence followed great interest mere war
The mere dates of my existence do not interest me, except in one connection. When the Great War started I was too old to be acceptable as a volunteer; when conscription followed I was too old to be conscripted.
clumsy entire letters stage
If I loved all the world as I do you, I shouldn't write books to it: I should only write letters to it, and that would be only a clumsy stage on the way to entire telepathy.
few national near prizes south style though took
Though while at South Kensington I took a few prizes in the National Competition, I did not get near to having a style of my own.
marriage mothers-day baby
If nature had arranged that husbands and wives should have children alternatively, there would never be more than three in a family.