Old Front Line by John Masefield
July 1st 1916 is a date that remains embedded in the British folk memory. It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the day on which British and Empire troops suffered nearly 60,000 casualties, a third of them fatal. In this evocative classic memoir John Masefield, the future Poet Laureate, describes the battleground over which the armies were to fight. He had spent months at the front and was familiar with the men, the trenches that they inhabited and the conditions that they endured. 'The Old Front Line' was written shortly after the battle, and this elegant account will still move the modern reader as well as providing a valuable guide for the many 21st century visitors to the battlefield. This edition has a powerful new Introduction by Martin Middlebrook.
John Masefield (1878-1967) was born in Herefordshire, England. After being orphaned at an early age, he was sent to sea aboard the school-ship HMS Conway in preparation for a naval career. Masefield's apprenticeship was disastrous--he was classified as a Distressed British Seaman after a voyage around Cape Horn--and he soon left the ship. Arrangements were then made for him to join another ship in New York. But Masefield had other plans: he deserted ship vowing to be a writer, come what might. At seventeen Masefield was living as a vagrant in America. He found work as a bar hand but eventually secured employment at a carpet factory. Thinking that journalism might allow him to write for a living, Masefield returned to England in 1897. Masefield's first volume of oetry, Salt-Water Ballads, was published in 1902, however, it was not until the publication of The Everlasting Mercy in 1911 that he made his mark on the literary scene. The success of his second book was followed by the publication of several long narrative poems, including Dauber (1914) and Reynard the Fox (1919). With the outbreak of the war, Masefield became an orderly at a hospital in France. He also took charge of a motorboat ambulance service at Gallipoli in 1915. After the Allied failure there, Masefield visited America and undertook a series of lectures in support of the war effort. IN 1930 he was appointed Poet Laureate, and five years later the much-loved Masefield was awarded the Order of Merit. He died on May 12, 1967, and his ashes were interred in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. The two Kay Harker books, The Midnight Folk (1927) and The Box of Delights (1935), are Masefield's lasting contribution to children's fantasy literature. The Box of Delights is now an established Christmas favourite and as much a part of the season as Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) was an American writer best known for her Young Adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781844154456 |
| ISBN 10 | 1844154459 |
| Title | Old Front Line |
| Author | John Masefield |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Pen & Sword Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2006-08-03 |
| Number of pages | 160 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |