Reynard the Fox

A phenomenal bestseller after its publication in 1919, this work was widely seen as a masterful poetic response to the horrors of World War I. A long narrative poem about a foxhunt, the work also evokes the beauty of English countryside and considers the meaning of courage. The poem was recorded by the author and adapted as a radio play much-beloved by the British public, and although the poem does not overtly criticize foxhunting, it prompted national debate on the subject. Out of print for years, the poem is now newly corrected from the original manuscript and presented alongside other pastoral writing by Masefield, including the essay "Fox-Hunting."