Evening star., 1933-01-14
|JOHN MASEF|ELD
THRILLS AUDIENCE
British Poet Laureate Tells
Fascinating Tales of
Sea Life.

John Masefield-a man who shipped
before the mast in sail and who set
'em up in a New York saloon before he
turned to the writing of salty rhymes
, sang" his melodious verse to a Wash
ington audience that virtually filled
the National Theater late yesterday :
The tall, slightly stopped and grayed
British poet laureate, told in his verse
of the lure of the sea and of its ship
manning men, of beauty and Of hope.
His deep, resonant voice gave melody
to the English words out of which this
poet had fashioned music of language.
His audience accorded Mr.. Masefleld an
ovation when he bowed his way from
the stage after a 90-minute reading.
The poet was introduced by Justice
| Wendell Phillips Stafford, formerly of
the District of Columbia Supreme Court
Tells of Sea Life.
"I have been asked to tell you some
thing of my life at sea" Mr.. Mase-
| field began. And then he reviewed the
story of his going into the old wooden
| sailing ship that was used In England
as a training craft for merchant
marine noviceS. Hating in this intro
ductory narrative to relate an incident
! involving two disobedient fellow cadets,
Mr. Masefeld went afield into typical
sea yarn involving the selling Of his
soul to the devil by one Of the cadets.
This yarn ended in fanciful tale of
| the drowning of the devil in the Indian
Ocean and then, before his audience
was quite aware Of it, the poets voice
broke out the lyrical words of "Sea
Fever
IT must go down to the seas again,
i to the lonely sea and the sky.
"And all ask is tail ship and a
star to steer her by :"
Mr.. Masefield then told of mans
quest for beauty as it was depicted in
| the tragic life of a young house
painter who wanted to paint on canvas
1 the beauties of the sea, ships and the
sky. This man, the poet told his audi
ence, shipped in a sailing vessel as an
ordinary seaman and forced himself
| to the tasks which had to be done. One
day near Cape Horn this former house
painter was ordered aloft to haul can
vas in a storm. Weary and dizzy, the
| landsman fell with a thud to the deck
100 feet below. When the ships COM
pany reached him the painter was still
! half conscious. He breathed softly:
1T will go onI" and died.
Furnishes Inspiration.
A friend of Masefield's who heard
| the mans dying words, told the poet
the story, and Masefield told his audi
ence here yesterday he, too, believes
| that mans qusst for beauty will go
on" The incident furnished the poet
with his inspiration for 'Dauber," and
/ he read excerpts from this lengthy
poem as part of his program.
Mr.. Masefield told also how he came
to write his poem, Ships" He once
visited a port out of which he fire.
quently had sailed and in which he had
| often admired lofty spared sailing
ships. The new day of the sea had
struck this port, however. and the tall
ships he loved were gone and in their
places moved less romantic steam yes
sells. In the opening lines OF this
poem Mr.. Masef1eld mourns because
he may never see those ships with
mainyards backed and bows cream OF
/ foam" which he watched when those
docks "were filed with that sea-beauty
man has ceased to build"
The poet laureate concluded his
reading with the observation that
these are sad and overwhelming times
and all we can say about them is that
they are of the depression and that is
| world wide" His final reading, ad-
dressed to suffering peoples, was a
| little verse on Hope"
| Mr.. Masefield did not reach Wash
| ington until $3.50 o'clock yesterday
afternoon and he left for New York
en- the Z o'clock train last night. While
here he found time only to pay brief
respects at the British embassy.