John Masefield
born June 1, 1878, Ledbury,
Herefordshire, Eng.
died May 12, 1967, near Abingdon,
Berkshire
poet, best known for his poems of the
sea, Salt-Water Ballads (1902, including
“Sea Fever” and “Cargoes”), and for his
long narrative poems, such as The
Everlasting Mercy (1911), which shocked
literary orthodoxy with its phrases of a
colloquial coarseness hitherto unknown
in 20th-century English verse.
Educated at King’s School, Warwick,
Masefield was apprenticed aboard a
windjammer that sailed around Cape Horn.
He left the sea after that voyage and
spent several years living precariously
in the United States. His work there in
a carpet factory is described in his
autobiography, In the Mill (1941). He
returned to England, worked for a time
as a journalist for the Manchester
Guardian, and settled in London. After
he succeeded Robert Bridges as poet
laureate in 1930, his poetry became more
austere.
Other of Masefield’s long narrative
poems are Dauber (1913), which concerns
the eternal struggle of the visionary
against ignorance and materialism, and
Reynard the Fox (1919), which deals with
many aspects of rural life in England.
He also wrote novels of adventure—Sard
Harker (1924), Odtaa (1926), and
Basilissa (1940)—sketches, and works for
children. His other works include the
poetic dramas The Tragedy of Nan (1909)
and The Tragedy of Pompey the Great
(1910), as well as a further
autobiographical volume, So Long to
Learn (1952). Masefield was awarded the
Order of Merit in 1935.
