de la Mare, Walter

de la Mare, Walter (də lə mâr), 1873–1956, English poet and novelist. For many years he worked in the accounting department of the Anglo-American Oil Company. Much of his verse and prose shows delight in imaginative excursions into the shadowed world between the real and the unreal. Included among his books of poetry are Songs of Childhood (1902), The Listeners (1912), Peacock Pie (1913), Poems for Children (1930), and The Fleeting and Other Poems (1933). His fiction includes Henry Brocken (1904), The Return (1910), Memoirs of a Midget (1921), and On the Edge (1930), a collection of somewhat macabre short stories.

Bibliography

See J. Atkins, Walter de la Mare: An Exploration (1975); D. Cecil, Walter de la Mare (1978).

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de la Mare, Walter (John)

(born April 25, 1873, Charlton, Kent, Eng.—died June 22, 1956, Twickenham, Middlesex) British poet and novelist. De la Mare was of French Huguenot descent. He was educated in London and worked for the Standard Oil Co. (1890–1908) before turning to writing, initially under the pseudonym Walter Ramal. He wrote for both adults and children. His collection Come Hither (1923) was especially highly praised. Memoirs of a Midget (1921) was his best-known novel. His Collected Stories for Children appeared in 1947.