The Life of Walter de la Mare

Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) is the writer of his age most in need of reappraisal. Well-known in his lifetime, with a wide circle of literary friends, including Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, Katherine Mansfield and Thomas Hardy, he has been largely ignored by recent critics. Few know of his personal life, of his loving but difficult marriage, and his passionate, platonic affair with Naomi Ryde-Smith, which was so crucial to his poetry. De la Mare wrote prolifically for both children and adults short stories, novels, volumes of poetry and a number of remarkable anthologies. In The Life of Walter de la Mare, Theresa Whistler provides us with a remarkable and often moving reassessment of the man and his work.