John Masefield

MASEFIELD, John Edward.  b. Ledbury, Herefordshire, 1 June 1878; d. near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 12 May 1967. His mother died in 1885 and his father became mentally ill, after which John was brought up by an uncle and aunt, who discouraged his reading. He was educated at Warwick School (1888-91) and HMS Conway, a training ship for the merchant marine. He served in sailing ships, and then lived rough in the USA for a time, working as a barman and in a carpet factory, returning to England in 1897. He first attracted attention by the publication of Salt-Water Ballads (1902), and Ballads (1903); Ballads and Poems (1910) and The Everlasting Mercy (1911) were very successful. During World War I he...