POET LAUREATE'S NOVEL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

POET LAUREATE'S NOVEL

FINE TALE OF THE SEA A new novel by Mr, John Masefield is something to be read eagerly and with appreciation. Those who delighted in " Sard Harker," " Odtaa " and " The Hawbucks " will find rich and varied entertainment in tho Poet Laureate's "Bird of Dawning," which is the latest addition to his small but important group of novels. It makes one hope that Mr. Masefield will continue to turn his brilliant gifts to fiction from time to time. Like " Sard Harker " and " Odtaa," " Bird of Dawning " is a virile story of adventure. It is a man's book, written about men for men and dealing with the adventures of a boat full of shipwrecked sailors from a vessel of the China tea fleet. . After_ days of privation in an open boat in midAtlantic, they find another lovely clipper ship of the tea fleet, abandoned through the whim of a crazy captain. They man her and sail her home to win'the London Prize. Simplicity is the essence of the story, just as it is the essence of Mr. Masefield's effective prose style. The Poet Laureate rarely uses words more than two syllables in length, and his prose sentences are so perfectly fashioned that a rhythmic flow carries the reader along in unending delight. With Mr. Masefield it is not so much what he says that matters as the way in which ho says it. But there is strong meat in plenty in " Bird of Dawning." The. character sketches of the young officer who carries a boatload of men through to safety and glory and the diverse types of old-time seamen who comprise his queer skeleton crew are brilliantly done. The dialogue is crisp and salty, with a wealth of easily-understandable nautical idiom, and the descriptive passages, particularly that of the race of the clipper ships up the English Channel, are brilliantly done. Tho novel is one which could be read many times and still enjoyed. '■' Bird of Dawning," by John Masefield. (Heinemann.)