Few people can fail to draw spiration from such an expert characterization of sea tore and the life for the common sailor who had to perform as his dally duty tasks Which in the writing seem to go Beyond the limit of human endurance, Masefeld himself must have had his full share of those (asks, and his poetry bears everywhere the touch of realism which could only be imparted by one expert in the customs of the sea like himself.
But there {s another side to Masefield's quality as a poet. "The Bver~ lasting Merey," the poem which caused a sensation when it was published just before the War, and Which was denounced by some possessing none of the attributes of poetry, shows his feeling for the common man in a different form, tracing the hectic life of a retrograde country yokel through most of the seven deadly sins, and up to a final fand very beautifully written climax, when he sets forth on the path of reform, "The Widow in the Bye Street" and "The Daffodil Fields" fare two tragic poems, one of which tells how the love of a worthless woman drives a man to murder and subsequent execution, and the other how Jealousy and forgetfulness preelpitate the deaths of two youths who would have been finally reconciled but for a misunderstanding.
Both are of the highest standard s narrative poems, and both, like the majority of Maseflela's poems, are intelligible to the ordinary man or woman who may find it hard to follow the classical outpourings of feeling with which they. probably associate good poetry. "Right Royal"
a simple poetic tale of a horse race, told in Ulting rhythm which fives an immediate impression of galloping steeds, and "King Cole" and "Enslaved" are also narrative poems of a readily understandable and pleasing nature. reynard the Fox"
But the poem which most people rank "Dauber" is "Rey: Told in such a manner as to give no impression of antagonism against the practice of fox-hunting, and yet describing every feeling experienced by the hunted animal as it is pursued by the hounds, this poem. expresses forly the love of Masefleld for the typical English country scene, and the manner in which he depicts the sights and sounds at the village inn before the hunt has a very pleas ingly cheerful and intimate' touch.
The description of the arrival of the various members of the hunt forms one of the most readable portions of the poem:—
'Two. bright young women, nothing Rode up' on bicycles, and propped Thole Wheels in such wise hat they dropped, To bring Wie parson's son t 'Smart, mannish, pert but feminine, 'The colour and the zest of wine Were in' their presence and" their Dearing: Like' spring, they brought the thought of pairing.
Perhaps one of the choicest pieces with his football shorts bearing a speck of mud gained from slipping down while seizing the ball from behind a rugger scrum.
There is high drama in this poem, which changes In metre after the short, expressive lines of the preliminary description to the rollicking Milt of the hunt itself. There are several breathless portions in the poem In which one is eagerly ex-ceting the fox to find shelter in one of its lairs, only for it to be baulked at the last moment, It is diMeult to discover very much about Masefleld's actual life. Biographies have doubtless been written
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.