Customer Reviews (2)

I MUST GO DOWN TO THE SEAAGAIN AND AGAIN
Fascinating compilation by one of the 20th Century's most memorable poets (British Poet Laureate from 1930-67). Testifies to the rugged durability of his evocative poetic gift. Especially nice about this volume are the range and depth of Masefield's best poetry, which spurred me to begin re-reading him and other great poets of his day (Thomas Hardy, W.B.Yeats, Frost,Walter de la Mare, Edwin Arlington Robinson, etc.). Most of the best output is early in his career (Salt Water Ballads, Dauber, Lollingdon Downs,Everlasting Mercy), the poem Sea Fever being the most representative of his genius for making nature come alive in mind and spirit.To summarize Masefield's poetic legacy: 'He writes as freshly as possible bringing us back to a marvel of sustained versecraft, leaping gaps of time and tide, reminding us of the immediacy of nature, especially tales of the open sea with a vitality and purity of resonance still affecting audiences in the 21st Century. If you have a love of the Sea, this book and Masefield's poems will whisk you there for a journey. Bon Voyage!

One of Masefield's last poems (excerpt): Musicians, painters, poets of when/Who made the world more lovely then/The story-tellers beyond price,/Bringing the news from Paradise/Those from whose handiwork we see/Horizons in eternity.

Now that my roving days are over,/And all my frontiers stop at Dover/I think of what Life used to mean/When all these artists trod the scene/And Life was in myself with them/In Troy, in Greece, and Bethlehem.

John Masefield Selected Poems
This is the perfect book for anyone interested in this poet's work. It has a variety of his nautical and arthurian poems. His poems about the sea and England are beautiful and full of rich textures. It is one of my personalfavorites. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Poetry, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2006. The length of the article is 899 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: John Masefield: 1878-1967.(ENTHUSIASMS)
Author: Conor O'Callaghan
Publication: Poetry (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 187Issue: 6Page: 499(3)

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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of John (Edward) Masefield, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 4654 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Now that was strange; and, what was stranger, this. I know he tried to say those words of his, 'It is my day'; and Harding turned to me, 'It is his day to-day, that's plain to see.' Right Royal nuzzled at me as he spoke. ... Read more

Book Description
At the end of the nineteenth century, a homeless runaway teenager in New York found a job in a bar and discovered Malory. So began the lifelong interest of the future Poet Laureate, John Masefield (1878-1967), in the story of King Arthur. After becoming a popular, successful narrative poet and playwright, Masefield turned to the Arthurian material in earnest, producing the verse drama Tristan and Isolt in 1927 and Midsummer Night a year later with its Arthurian cycle.All29 of Masefield's previously published Arthurian poems from the Ballad of Sir Bors (1903) to Caer Ocvran (1966) are collected here in addition to the full-length tragi-comedy When Good King Arthur. Also included are nine poems never before published which, together with prose notes, reveal Masefield undertaking an ambitious retelling of the Arthurian myth. ... Read more