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John Masefield

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John Masefield
John Masefield

John Edward Masefield, OM, (1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967. He is remembered as the author of the classic children's novels The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights, two novels "Captain Margaret" and "Multitude and Solitude" and a great deal of memorable poetry, including "The Everlasting Mercy", and "Sea-Fever", from his anthology Saltwater Ballads.

Life

Early life

Masefield was born in Ledbury, in Herefordshire, a rural area in England. His mother died at giving birth to his sister when Masefield was only 6 and he went to live with his aunt. His father died soon after. After an unhappy education at the King's School in Warwick (now known as Warwick School), where he was a boarder between 1888 and 1891, he left to board the HMS Conway, both to train for a life at sea, and to break his addiction to reading, of which his Aunt thought little. He spent several years aboard this ship and found that he could spend much of his time reading and writing. It was aboard the Conway that Masefield’s love for story-telling grew. While on the ship, he listened to the stories told about sea lore. He continued to read, and felt that he was to become a writer and story teller himself.

In 1894, Masefield boarded the Gilcruix, destined for Chile, this first voyage bringing him the experience of sea sickness and a taste of fierce weather. He recorded his experiences while sailing through the extreme weather: it was obvious from his journal entries that he delighted in viewing flying fish, porpoises, and birds, and was awed by the beauty of nature, including a rare sighting of a nocturnal rainbow on his voyage. Upon reaching Chile, Masefield suffered from sunstroke and was hospitalized. He eventually returned home to England as a passenger aboard a steam ship.

In 1895, Masefield returned to sea on a windjammer destined for New York City. However, the urge to become a writer and the hopelessness of life as a sailor overtook him, and in New York, he deserted ship. He lived as a vagrant for several months, before returning to New York City, where he was able to find work as an assistant to a bar keeper.

For the next two years, Masefield was employed in a carpet factory, where long hours were expected and conditions were far from ideal. He purchased up to 20 books a week, and devoured both modern and classical literature. His interests at this time were diverse and his reading included works by Trilby, Dumas, Thomas Browne, Hazlitt, Dickens, Kipling, and R. L. Stevenson. Chaucer also became very important to him during this time, as well as poetry by Keats and Shelley.

When Masefield was 23, he met his future wife, Constance Crommelin, who was 35. Educated in classics and English Literature, and a mathematics teacher, Constance was a perfect match for Masefield despite the difference in age. The couple had two children (Judith, born in 1904, and Lewis, in 1910).[1]

By 24, Masefield’s poems were being published in periodicals and his first collected works, "Salt-Water Ballads" was published. "Sea Fever" appeared in this book. Masefield then wrote two novels, "Captain Margaret" (1908) and "Multitude and Solitude" (1909). In 1911, after a long drought of poem writing, he composed "The Everlasting Mercy". 

TALYA LEVINE

"The Everlasting Mercy" was the first of his narrative poems, and within the next year, Masefield produced 2 more narrative poems, "The Widow in the Bye Street" and "Dauber". As a result of the writing of these three poems, Masefield became widely known to the public and was praised by critics, and in 1912, the annual Edmund de Polignac prize was bestowed upon Masefield.[2]

World War I to appointment as Poet Laureate

When World War I began, though old enough to be exempted from military service, Masefield went to the Western Front as a medical orderly, later publishing his own account of his experiences.

After returning home, Masefield was invited to the United States on a three month lecture tour. Although Masefield's primary purpose was to lecture on English Literature, a secondary purpose was to collect information on the mood and views of Americans regarding the war in Europe. When he returned to England, he submitted a report to the British Foreign Office, and suggested that he be allowed to write a book about the failure of the allied efforts in the Dardanelles, which possibly could be used in the US in order to counter what he thought was German propaganda there. As a result, Masefield wrote Gallipoli. This work was a success, encouraging the British people, and lifting them somewhat from the disappointment they had felt as a result of the Allied losses in the Dardanelles.

Due to the success of his wartime writings, Masefield met with the head of British Military Intelligence in France and was asked to write an account of the Battle of the Somme. Although Masefield had grand ideas for his book, he was denied access to the official records, and therefore, what was to be his preface to the book was published as "The Old Front Line", a description of the geography of the Somme area.

In 1918, Masefield returned to America on his second lecture tour. Masefield spent much of his time speaking and lecturing to American soldiers waiting to be sent to Europe. These speaking engagements were very successful, and on one occasion, a battalion of all Black soldiers danced and sang for him after his talk. During this tour, he matured as a public speaker and realized his ability to touch the emotions of his audience with his style of speaking, learning to speak publicly with his own heart, rather than from dry scripted speeches. Towards the end of his trip, both Yale and Harvard Universities conferred honorary Doctorates of Letters on him.

Masefield entered the 1920's as an accomplished and respected writer. His family was able to settle in a somewhat rural setting, not far from Oxford, and Masefield took up beekeeping, goat-herding and poultry-keeping.

Masefield continued to meet with success, the 1923 edition of "Collected Poems" selling approximately 80,000 copies, quite a lot for a book of poetry. Another threesome of narrative poems was produced by Masefield early in this decade. The first was "Reynard The Fox", a poem that has been critically compared with works of Chaucer. This was followed by "Right Royal" and "King Cole", poems of beauty and movement, with the relationship of humanity and nature emphasized. While Reynard is the best known of these, all met with acclaim.

In 1921, Masefield received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Oxford University, and in 1923, organized the Oxford Recitations, an annual contest whose purpose was "to discover good speakers of verse and to encourage ‘the beautiful speaking of poetry.’" The Recitations were seen as a success given the impressive numbers of contest applicants, the promotion of natural speech in poetical recitations, and the number of people learning how to listen to poetry. Masefield began to question however, whether the Recitations should continue as a contest, believing that the event should become more of a festival. In 1929, Masefield broke with the contest concept, and the Recitations came to an end.

Masefield also wrote a very large number of dramatic pieces during this time. Most of his dramas were based on themes of Christianity, and in 1928, his "The Coming of Christ" was the first play to be performed in an English Cathedral since the Middle Ages.[3]

Later years

In 1930, due to the death of Robert Bridges, a new Poet Laureate was needed. Many felt that Rudyard Kipling was a likely choice. However, upon the recommendation of the British Prime Minister, King George V appointed Masefield, who remained in office until his death in 1967. The only person to remain in the office for a longer period was Tennyson.

Although the requirements of Poet Laureate had changed, and those in the office were no longer required to write verse for special occasions, Masefield took his appointment seriously and produced a large quantity of verse. Poems composed in his official capacity were sent to The Times. Masefield’s humility was shown by his inclusion of a stamped envelope with each submission so that his composition could be returned if it were found unacceptable for publication.

After his appointment, Masefield received many honors, including the Order of Merit by King George V. He was the recipient of many more honorary degrees from Universities throughout the United Kingdom, and in 1937 he was elected President of the Society of Authors.

Masefield encouraged the continued development of English literature and poetry, and began the annual awarding of the Royal Medals for Poetry for a first or second published edition of poetry by a poet under the age of 35. Additionally, his speaking engagements were calling him further away, often on much longer tours, yet he still produced a veritable amount of work.

It was not until about the age of 70, that Masefield slowed his pace due to illness. But even then, he continued to learn new things, and took a greater interest in classical music. In 1960, Constance died at 93, after a long illness. Masefield was constantly at Constance’s side, and although her death was heartrending to him, he had spent a very tiring year watching the woman he adored die. He continued his duties faithfully as Poet Laureate, and even his other literary works continued. His last published book, "In Glad Thanksgiving", was published when he was 88 years old.

On May 12, 1967, John Masefield died, after having suffered through a spread of gangrene up his leg. According to his wishes, he was cremated and his ashes placed in the Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey. Later, the following verse was discovered, written by Masefield, addressed to his ‘Heirs, Administrators, and Assigns’:

Let no religious rite be done or read
In any place for me when I am dead,
But burn my body into ash, and scatter
The ash in secret into running water,
Or on the windy down, and let none see;
And then thank God that there’s an end of me.[4]

Works

This is not an exhaustive list

Poetry

  • The Death Rooms
  • "The Everlasting Mercy" 1911
  • "Sea-Fever" (1902)
  • "The Widow in the Bye Street" (1912)
  • "The Wanderer" (1914)
  • "Philip the King" (1914)
  • "Dauber and the Daffodil Fields (1923)"
  • "Reynard The Fox"
  • "Right Royal"
  • "King Cole"
  • "In Glad Thanksgiving"
  • "A Ballad of John Silver"
  • "August, 1914"

Plays

  • Good Friday: A Play in Verse
  • The Tragedy Of Nan (Originally known as 'Nan')
  • "The Coming of Christ"

Novels

Non-fiction and Autobiographical

  • "Gallipoli"
  • "The Old Front Line"

Perhaps the most famous Masefield quotation is from "Sea-Fever": "All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by." Besides being used in many other written works, this quotation was also referenced in the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Though not directly stated to be so, it hearkens back to a conversation between Kirk and Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek series episode "The Ultimate Computer". The scene in Star Trek V opens with Kirk quoting Masefield, and McCoy incorrectly stating that it was a quote by Melville. This precipitates a rather amusing argument between "Bones" and Spock, who correctly identifies the author.

Lines from "Sea-Fever" are also referenced in Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night. In Episode 3 ("The Hungry And The Hunted"), Dan Rydell misquotes the first and eighth lines of the poem. The characters then argue about whether the poem was written by Henry David Thoreau, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, George Gordon Byron, Dylan Thomas, or "Slim" Whitman (the last being Casey McCall's idea of a joke). Neither the poem's title nor the correct poet is ever identified.

In November 2007, a Wirral pub named in Masefield's honour had complaints because some locals claim its sign looks like Adolf Hitler. Locals have nicknamed the John Masefield in New Ferry "The Adolf" because of the sign's resemblance to the Nazi leader. Seanie Walsh, who manages the pub, said he would not be dictated to and refused to change the picture: "That is what he looked like so the sign is to stay."[5]

Notes

  1. ^ John Masefield: A Biographical Sketch
  2. ^ Early Life
  3. ^ Middle Life
  4. ^ Later Life
  5. ^ "Row brews over 'Hitler' pub sign". BBC News. 8 November 2007.
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John Masefield
Preceded by British Poet Laureate
1930–1967 		Succeeded by
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