Tan leather binding with embossed title and design on the spine and front board.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

An interesting and easy to read book with a lot of information about Masefield’s life and its influence on his poetry.

John Masefield in 1916

John Edward Masefield OM (1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children’s novels The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights, and the poems The Everlasting Mercy and “Sea-Fever”.

In 1930, on the death of Robert Bridges, a new Poet Laureate was needed. On the recommendation of the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, King George V appointed Masefield, who remained in the post until his death in 1967. The only person to hold the office for a longer period was Alfred, Lord Tennyson. On his appointment The Times wrote of him: “his poetry could touch to beauty the plain speech of everyday life”. Masefield took his appointment seriously and produced a large quantity of poems for royal occasions, which were sent to The Times for publication. Masefield’s modesty was shown by his inclusion of a stamped and self-addressed envelope with each submission so that the poem could be returned if it was found unacceptable. Later he was commissioned to write a poem to be set to music by the Master of the King’s Musick, Sir Edward Elgar, and performed at the unveiling of the Queen Alexandra Memorial by the King on 8 June 1932. This was the ode “So many true Princesses who have gone”.