John Masefield , poet laureate from 1930 to 1967, is best known for his achievements in narrative and lyric verse. Yet he had published twenty novels, seventeen original plays, and three dramas adapted or translated from the French or Norwegian. Most of the plays, original and translated, received stage production by professional or amateur actors.

Born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, Masefield was the son of Edward and Caroline Parker Masefield. His early childhood was spent at Knapp, a Victorian house surrounded by fields and woodlands. As he recalled in his autobiography, So Long To Learn (1952), the years spent at Knapp were like "living in Paradise." When he was six years old, Masefield's mother died, and the family moved to another house, the Priory. Masefield became a boarding student at Warwick School when he was ten. Three years later, when his father died, Masefield went to sea. He joined the merchant navy schoolship...