John Masefield

Sir Francis Drake, in his last night in London before sailing, in 1595, to his death in the Western Caribbean, talks with a shipmate of his voyage of circumnavigation. 1577 to 1580, when he refitted his ship in the port that he called New Albion, either near, or, as I feel sure, well within the present harbor of San Francisco. In his account of this New Albion, he was at pains not to make it templing to the Spaniards, who had not then stretched their sway so far to the north on that coast. His feud with Spain began at San Juan d’Ulloa with their treachery there in 1567. His second great chance of ruining Spain was at Nombre de Dios, when loss of blood from a wound forced him away, just as he had won the treasure house. His last voyage was disastrous: Spain had devised a counter to him.

In late October of 1707, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Rear Admiral of the Blue, led the Mediterranean fleet home from Gibraltar and ,through faulty reckoning, to a major disaster in which 2000 lives were lost on the Gilstone Ledges. The Poet Laureate describes it this way:

When JOHN MASEFOELD, who has been poet laureate oj England since

When JOHN MASEFIELD,who has been poet laureate of England since 1930, was a young man learning his craft in London, there were few Elizabethan rerivals; and it was not until he had seen Charles Ashbee’s production of The New Inn by Ben Jonson that the glory of England’s most creative age burst upon him. “I determined,” he wrote, ”to try to learn rather more of the theater, that I might the better understand the miracle of Shakespeare, and the still unsolved uncomprehended miracle of the theater of his time.”In the essay which follows. Mr. Masefield calls for a national undertaking which would make the Elizabethans as accessible as they ought to be.

I have ttltcavs been willing to take risks in order to do the work of story-telling, or even to hare the chance of doing it.”With these words JOHN MASEFIELD who has hern poet laureate of England since 1930. looks back across some sixty years to identify with lyric clarity those excitements and discouragements which he encountered as a youth. His elders disapproved of his voracious reading and when, in his second year as a Truining-Ship Cadet, he produced a prize essay he was told, “You must not let this be fatal to you. You must get this writing-rubbish out of your head. In this issue Mr. Masefield continues his description of the persons and influences that helped him as a free lance. His autobiography will be published in the near future by Macmillan.

“I have always been willing to take risks in order to do the wor of story-telling, or even to have the chance of doing it.”With these words JOHN MASEFIELD. who has been poet laureate of England since 1930, looks back across some sixty years to identify with lyric clarity those excitements and discouragements which he encountered as a boy intent on writing. His elders disapproved of his voracatous reading and when, in his second year as a TrainingShip Cadet, he produced a prize essay he was told, “ You must not let this be fatal to yoy. You must get this writingrubbish out of your head.”In this and a subsequent installment Mr. Masefield describes those persons and influences that helped to shape and liberate him as a free lance.