“Mr Masefield is the single poet writing in English today who both in popular esteem and by the most exacting critical estimate legitimately belongs to the august line of poets who are among the chief glories of our race: to his greatness no journalistic cavil can add or take away.” R. M. Weaver
+ Bookm 52:65 S ’20 240w
“In this poem, [On growing old], as in so many aspects of the other poems in this volume, one feels the shadows of the world, deepened by the tumult of war, settling upon the radiance of a brave visionary spirit. The thrill, the excitement, the adventures of living are all now subdued to this key of sadness, in which the passion and beauty that was once a flame becomes an effable glow.” W. S. B.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 Ag 18 ’20 2400w
“The whole thing seems bookish, remote, unreal. The characters do not become sufficiently interesting: seem, in fact, insufficiently equipped with a back-ground of flesh and blood experience.” J: G. Fletcher
− + Freeman 2:163 O 27 ’20 1050w
“One of the signs that the times are good in English poetry is the fact that Mr Masefield keeps on writing poems which tell stories.” Mark Van Doren
+ − Nation 111:sup670 D 8 ’20 310w
“In his latest volume there are some serious offenses against rhyming, euphony, and scansion, but in the larger aspects, in the essential substance and indescribable quality of authentic poesy, he is more richly endowed than any other living writer.” Lawrence Mason
+ New Repub 23:340 Ag 18 ’20 1250w