Sea-Fever
Selected Poems of John Masefield (Second Edition)
"Sea Fever" remains one of the most popular poems of the last century, and John Masefield one of the most popular poets, a superb spinner of yarns and ballads of tall ships, exotic seas, of the deep-rooted life of rural England, and of the great narratives of Troy and Arthurian legend. This book his most popular poems and a few previously uncollected rarities. All share Masefield's love of particular lives: he draws the reader into his stories with incomparable music of language.
This is a representative selection of the poems, in chronological sequence spanning his long career. The editor also provides a full introduction to his work.
This is a representative selection of the poems, in chronological sequence spanning his long career. The editor also provides a full introduction to his work.
About the author
John Masefield was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, in 1878. He was orphaned at an early age and, after a brief period at the King's School, Warwick, was educated aboard the Liverpool school-ship Conway. As an apprentice, Masefield sailed round Cape Horn in 1894; as a result of sickness, he was classified a Distressed British Sailor upon arrival in Chile. After convalescence in England he secured a new position in New York. Although he crossed the Atlantic, he never reported for duty. He later noted, "I was going to be a writer, come what might". After a period of homelessness and vagrancy, bar and factory work in America, Masefield returned to England in 1897. His first published poem appeared in a periodical in 1899. The friendship of W. B. Yeats provided encouragement, and in 1902 "Salt-Water Ballads" was published. A distinguished literary career followed, with work across a broad range of genres. Masefield was appointed poet laureate in 1930, and awarded the Order of Merit in 1935. He died in 1967; his ashes are buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.