Looking through the WW1 poets listed in Catherine W. Reilly's "English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography" (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1978), I noticed on page 219 a poet called Susan Masefield. Susan had a poem included in two WW1 anthologies - "One Hundred best poems on the war" Ed. Charles Frederick Foreshaw (Elliot Stock, 1916) and "Poems in Memory of the late Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, K.G." Ed Charles Frederick Forshaw (Institute of British Poetry, Bradford, 1916).
I have tried without success to find out something about Susan Masefield and wondered if she was the mother of WW1 soldier poet Charles John Beech Masefield, a cousin of the poet John Masefield?
If anyone knows anything please get in touch. Thank you.Here are the poems by Susan Masefield:
“Original Lyric on “war” by S. Masefield
‘Tis like throwing stones in water
When Nations go to War,
The circle widens ever,
From centre unto shore.
'Tis simple to begin it;
But far-reaching is the end —
Our British blood is boiling,
And German pride won't bend.
To read of all the slaughter
Makes us shudder and turn pale —
But I fear we've not yet heard
The last of Britain's wail.
God, save our noble Country !
God, send us quickly Peace !
God, make our hosts victorious !—
God, make all wars to cease !
From One Hundred of the best poems on the war, Volume 2 By Women Poets of the Empire (Elliot Stock, 1916). Edited by Charles Frederick Forshaw. Page 99
and
SUSAN MASEFIELD .
BENEATH a world of waters dark and deep ,
Low lies our Kitchener, alone, asleep
Sudden "God's finger touched him, and he slept,"
And we with saddened eyes the hero wept !
But still we hear the echo of his voice,
“Weep not! but carry on, and then rejoice !”
His work was done, the hardest "bit” of all, —
Willingly came the men who heard his call
Let all be ever proud who bear his name,
And Kitchener's Army "e'er be kept from shame !
For still we hear the echo of his voice, --
“Weep not ! but carry on, and soon rejoice !”
From “Poems in memory of the late Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener, K.G.” Edited by Charles F. Forshaw, Founder of the Institute of British Poetry (Institute of British Poetry, Bradford, Yorkshire, UK, 1916), page 150.
