Shrewsbury is described in the book as encircled by the Severn on all sides but the North, and locally termed 'the Island', which Housman condenses to Islanded in Severn stream in his poem XXVIII. Murray also mentions that the last fair of the year at Church Stretton is called 'Dead Man's Fair', the event with which In midnights of November begins. Written about the same time as the others, this poem was held over until it was incorporated in Last Poems (1922).