Who was John Masefield?
Poet and Novelist.
Date and Place of Birth:
1st June 1878, Ledbury, Herefordshire, England.
Family Background:
His mother died when he was six from complications
over the birth of his sister Norah and his father died later leaving
him an orphan to be looked after by his aunt and uncle.
Education:
King's School, Warwick.
Chronology/Biography of John Masefield:
1890: His father
suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised.
1891: Death of his
father. As his grandparents were already dead he was looked after
by his aunt and uncle. His aunt sent him to sea as a cadet.
1894: Joined the
Merchant Navy at the age of sixteen and served his apprentice as
a crewman.
1895: After completing
an Atlantic voyage he deserted his ship and became a vagrant in
the United States of America finally ending up in New York. He worked
first as a barman and then in a carpet factory. He spent much of
his spare time reading modern and classical literature.
1897: Leaves New
York for England to become a writer. On arrival takes a job as a
bank clerk. Makes his first mark as a journalist for the “Daily
Chronicle” newspaper under its literary editor Charles Masterman
1899: His first
poem “Nicias Moritous” was accepted for publication. This was later
to be revised as “The Turn of the Tide”, part of the “Salt Water
Ballads”. He meets the poet William Butler Yeats who he admires
greatly and who becomes his friend and mentor.
1902: Reviews books
for several periodicals.
1907: Joins the
“Manchester Guardian” newspaper.
1912: Wins the Edmund
de Polignac Prize for fiction.
1913: Invited to
attend Prime Minister Asquith’s Daughter’s birthday party along
with other writers such as George Bernard Shaw and Rupert Brooke.
1914-18: Joins the
Red Cross during the First World War and serves in France. He then
went to the Dardanelle’s with an ambulance crew and witnessed at
first hand the disaster at Gallipoli. When he returned to England
Charles Masterman, now the Head of the War Propaganda Bureau, again
recruited him. He was sent to America to give a lecture tour on
how Britain was winning the war despite the Dardanelle’s failures.
Some of these lectures were greeted by loud heckling. This in turn
led to the propaganda booklets “Gallipoli” published in 1916 and
“The Old Front Line” published in 1917. Also in 1917 he was sent
to observe and write about the American Medical Relief Forces in
France. In 1918 He goes on a second, more successful lecture tour
of the United States and receives Honorary Doctorates from the Universities
of Yale and Harvard.
1920: Moves to a
rural location in Oxfordshire and enjoyed beekeeping, and looking
after goats and poultry.
1922: Forms the
Hill Players Theatrical Group to perform works by Shakespeare, Euripedes,
Yeats and himself.
1923: Organises
the Oxford Recitations, an annual contest to discover good speakers
of verse.
1929: The last Oxford
Recitations are held, as he was unhappy about the overly competitive
spirit which had developed.
1930: Becomes Poet
Laureate succeeding Robert Bridges.
1935: Receives the
Order of Merit.
1937: Elected President
of the Society of Authors.
1949: He had continued
writing and doing lecture tours up until this time when ill health
and failing eyesight prevented him from continuing.
1960: Death of his
wife after a long illness. Becomes virtual recluse.
Written Works:
- 1902:
“Salt Water Ballads”.
- 1905:
“A Mainsail Haul”.
- 1908:
“Captain Margaret” (Novel).
- 1909:
“The Tragedy of Nan”. “Multitude and Solitude” (Novel).
- 1912: “Cargoes”.
“Ballads and Poems”.
- 1911:
“The Everlasting Mercy”. “Shakespeare”
- 1912:
“The Widow in the Bye Street.”
- 1913: “Dauber”.
- 1916:
“Sonnets and Poems”. “Gallipoli”
- 1919: “Reynard
the Fox”.
- 1923:
“Collected Poems”.
- 1924: “Sard
Harker” (Novel)
- 1925:
“The Trial of Jesus”. (Play) “Prose Plays”. “Verse Plays”.
- 1926: “Odtaa”
(Novel)
- 1928:
“The Coming of Christ.”.
- 1929:
“The Habucks”.
- 1937:
“The Country Scene in Poems”.
- 1938:
"Dad Ned” (Novel)
- 1939:
“Live and Kicking Ned”.
- 1952: “So
Long to Learn” (autobiography)
- 1966:
“Grace before Ploughing” (autobiography). “In Glad Thanksgiving”.
Marriage:
1901: To Constance Crommelin, a teacher of mathematics
who was educated in literature and the classics. She was twelve
years his senior. Died 1960 aged 93.
Places of Interest:
HEREFORDSHIRE:
Bredon Hills.
LEDBURY:
Date and Place of Death:
12th May 1967, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
after contracting gangrene from an injury to his leg.
Age at Death:
88.
Site of Grave:
Cremated and his ashes interred in Poet's Corner,
Westminster Abbey, London, England.
Westminster Abbey, London
(© A Blagg)
Further Information:
John Masefield Society
c/o P Carter
The Frith
Ledbury
HR8 I2W
