Hello and welcome to Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast, who Ray, this week I'd like to talk

about the Poet John Mace Field. Now you may never have even heard of John Mace Field.

He was Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967, which was a good old innings for a Poet Laureate.

He made it, Mace Field, but he himself lived from 1878 to 1967. I'm giving you some

Mace Fieldian facts early on. I know I often don't do much biog. I'm just going to give you

the bits, I think, of juicy par-example. He was raised by his aunt, John Mace Field. His mom died

and fabulously she sent him to see to be a sailor because she was worried that he was addicted to

books. Oh no, it's fantastic, isn't he? And a fabulous portent of his life to come. So he was on

ships and things for about four years. And then he finally jumped ship at New York City and

lived as what they used to call a vagrant for several months. And eventually he got a job

in a New York City carpet factory. Why are you telling us the carpet factory thing you asked me?

I like the fact that when he was there he spent most of his wages on books and retains that he

bought about 20 books a week. This is my kind of guy. And also he was a tremendous champion

Mace Field of reading poetry aloud. And so he might have liked this podcast. You never know.

So look, if you know anything at all about John Mace Field it will be that he wrote a poem called

See Fever. It's hyphenated. See Fever which he wrote in 1902 or at least was published then

and was probably his breakthrough moment. If I read the first bit you'll probably recognise it

and then you'll think I know you've slightly got that wrong. But I've got it right and the world

has got it wrong. I must go down to the seas again to the lonely sea and the sky. And I think when

you hear this quoted, if you've ever heard it quoted, people almost always say I must go down to the

sea again. But that's not what the poem says. And I like that it says seas and I'll tell you why

because I go down to the sea occasionally but you know I paddle and do that thing of running away

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