The Complete Poems of W. H. Davies

by W.H. Davies, Osbert Sitwell (Editor), Daniel George (Editor)

Book by Davies, W. H.

Genres: Poetry

632 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

William Henry Davies was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. His father was, at the time a Publican. After an apprenticeship as a picture-frame maker and a series of labouring jobs, he travelled to America, first to New York and then to the Klondike.

He returned to England after an accident whilst jumping a train in Canada, he lost a foot. Upon his return to Britain he led a poor, hard life living in London lodging houses and as a pedlar in the country. He married in 1923, Emma, who was much younger than he. His first poems were published when he was 34.

Most of his poetry is on the subject of nature or life on the road and exhibits a natural simple, earthy style. He also wrote two novels and autobiographical works, his best known being Autobiography of a Super-Tramp

He died in 1940.

Reviews

[E. Merrill Brouder]

Davies is, undoubtedly, a master craftsman– and the acoustic quality of his lyrics (which has to be imagined in a thick, rural Welsh accent) is lovely like chiffon cake. However, like chiffon cake, the substance of Davies' poems is mostly sugar and air. This being said, there are dozens of poems in this tome which range from pleasant to wonderful...

[scarlettraces]

The odd relatable line does not make up for the extreme datedness of the rest. Cultural context helps but it's not enough, times have moved on.