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by Mary Webb
The following introduction to Mary Webb's poetry has been written especially for this website by Gladys Mary Coles, President of the Mary Webb Society.
Mary Webb's poetry was not published in a collection during her lifetime, although she left many poems at her death and had been writing since childhood. The first volume of her poetry to be published was Poems and the Spring of Joy in 1928. Jonathan Cape included it in the Collected Edition of her work with an introduction by Walter de la Mare. An appropriate choice, as de la Mare had been among the first to recognise the quality of Mary Webb's poetry and had included three of her poems in his influential anthology 'for the young of all ages', Come Hither (1923). These three poems--'Green Rain', 'The Water Ousel' and 'Market Day'--are among those chosen as representative of her work in the selection which follows here.
Walter de la Mare said of Mary Webb's poetry that it is 'of the lovely earth'--she is indeed a fine nature poet, her senses were keen, 'rarely delicate' (de la Mare), and from first to last she draws on the Shropshire countryside for her inspiration, imagery and the detail of her poems. Her work is imbued with her feeling for and knowledge of Shropshire, although she rarely mentions place-names in evoking this powerful sense of place. One of her finest poems is, however, an evocation of the ancient Roman city of Viroconium, named in the title, a poem written in 1924, in which she explores an aspect of Shropshire's past and the fleeting glory of Empires and conquerors:
Where trumpets rang and men marched by,
None passes but the dragonfly.Here too her personal philosophy and belief in 'a shrineless god' is clearly expressed.
Mary Webb's poetry is also deeply personal. It is here that she confides her joys and despairs. The poems on the death of her father are poignant and skilfully crafted. She was especially adept in the sonnet. Those new to her poetry will find here a distinctive voice, singular charm, clarity and sincerity.
The first chronological collection of her poetry, drawn from the entire body of her work, is the volume which I edited, Selected Poems of Mary Webb (Headland 1987; reprint 2003), and in which I provide an in-depth Introduction and Notes.
© Gladys Mary Coles, January 2003
Sample poems from The spring of joy: poems are available on this website.
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Page created 22 January 2003 and last
updated 11 February 2003
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