The Great Poets: John Masefield

John Masefield (1878 1967) was one of the most prolific, popular and successful poets of the twentieth century. Masefield broke upon Edwardian literature with the startling work entitled The Everlasting Mercy which described the spiritual enlightenment of a drunken poacher. Over the span of his lifetime, he was appointed Poet Laureate and amassed a large number of admirers, which included such high-profile names as John Betjeman, Robert Graves, and W.B. Yeats. This collection contains thirty-six poems spanning Masefield's entire career. There are early poems including Salt-Water Ballads (1902) and Ballads (1903), followed by extracts the narrative poems The Everlasting Mercy, Dauber, and Reynard the Fox. The selection also includes a number of sonnets - including On Growing Old, as well as his poetry on the Romans alongside a number of rarities.