Walter de la Mare
born April 25, 1873, Charlton, Kent,
England
died June 22, 1956, Twickenham,
Middlesex
British poet and novelist with an
unusual power to evoke the ghostly,
evanescent moments in life.
De la Mare was educated at St. Paul’s
Cathedral Choir School in London, and
from 1890 to 1908 he worked in the
London office of the Anglo-American Oil
Company. From 1902, however, when his
poetry collection Songs of Childhood
appeared under the pseudonym Walter
Ramal, he devoted himself increasingly
to writing. His first novel, Henry
Brocken, was published in 1904 and his
Poems in 1906. As the years passed his
books continued to appear: poems and
short stories for adults and children;
novels, of which Memoirs of a Midget
(1921) reached the greatest poetic
fantasy; a fairy play, Crossings (1921);
and essays and literary studies. His
anthology Come Hither (1923) is often
held to be one of the best and most
original in the language. He was made a
Companion of Honour in 1948 and received
the Order of Merit in 1953.
Among de la Mare’s other works for
children are Bells and Grass (1941);
Collected Rhymes and Verses (1944); and
Collected Stories for Children (1947).
Later poetry for adults includes The
Burning Glass (1945), The Traveller
(1946), Inward Companion (1950), and O
Lovely England (1953).
