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Reynard the Fox

John Masefield

Edited by Philip Errington

Reynard the Fox by John Masefield
Categories: 20th Century
Imprint: Fyfield Books
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
Paperback (144 pages)
(Pub. Dec 2008)
9781857549133
Out of Stock
Digital access available through Exact Editions
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  • The fox was strong, he was full of running,
    He could run for an hour and then be cunning,
    But the cry behind him made him chill,
    They were nearer now and they meant to kill.
    They meant to run him until his blood
    Clogged on his heart as his brush with mud,
    Till his back bent up and his tongue hung flagging,
    And his belly and brush were filthed from dragging ...

                                     from Reynard the Fox by John Masefield


    Reynard the Fox is one of the great poems of the English countryside and rural life. The headlong dash of John Masefield's narrative carries the reader on an exhilarating chase through the meadows and copses of the landscape the poet loved, pursued by a richly characterised community. In its deep sense of place and its humane sympathy for the hunted animal, the poem becomes a nostalgic celebration of an England that was lost in the trenches of the Great War.

    Philip W. Errington, bibliographer of John Masefield (1878-1967) and editor of his Selected Poems in the Fyfield series, has edited Reynard anew from the original manuscript. An introduction and detailed note on the text, together with additional Masefield texts related to the work, complete this definitive edition of the work.


    Cover illustration: The fox and his foes, from Jugend by Ludwig Hohlwin, 1917 (copyright Mary Evans Picture Library). Cover design by StephenRaw.com.
    John Masefield
     John Masefield was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, in 1878. He was orphaned at an early age and, after a brief period at the King's School, Warwick, was educated aboard the Liverpool school-ship Conway . As an apprentice, Masefield sailed round Cape Horn in 1894; as a result of sickness, he was ... read more
    Philip Errington
    Philip W. Errington is an antiquarian book expert at Peter Harrington in London. A graduate of the University of London, he read for hisBA, MA and PhD at University College. He has edited and introduced works by Masefield for Carcanet, Penguin Classics, Pen and Sword, Egmont and The Folio Society. He ... read more
    Praise for John Masefield 'Selected Poems is an especially enjoyable body of work. It articulates colour and exoticism combined with contrast. This provides an expressive and profound response to not just the conservative "green and pleasant land," but importantly, highlights the grey and grinding industrial oppression on the senses.'
    Christine Hammond, Everybody's Reviewing



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