The Snows Are Fled Away

[orange_fell]

Diffugere Nives

A. E. Housman

HORACE: ODES iv.7The snows are fled away, leaves on the shaws

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[orange_fell]

Theseus and Pirithöus, mentioned in the last stanza, were mythological Greek kings who were first rivals, but then eternal friends. They journeyed to Hades to rescue Persephone, but only Theseus was able to escape, Pirithöus remaining in chains in torment to save his friend. There is evidence that A. E. Housman, the Classical scholar and poet, had strong unrequited feelings for his college friend, Moses Jackson; the Stoppard play The Invention of Love is based around the supposition that Housman imagined his ideal relationship with Jackson as one of eternal comradeship, like Theseus and Pirithöus.