John Drinkwater

John Drinkwater (1 June 1882 - 25 March 1937) was an English poet and dramatist.

Life
Drinkwater was born in Leytonstone, London, and worked as an insurance clerk. He published poetry beginning with The Death of Leander in 1906. In the period immediately before World War I, he was one of the Dymock poets, associated with the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, along with Rupert Brooke and others. Between 1912 and 1922, he published in the five Georgian Poetry anthologies.

In 1918, Drinkwater scored his first major success with his play, Abraham Lincoln. He followed it up with others in a similar vein, including Mary Stuart and Oliver Cromwell.

His first Collected Poems appeared in 1923. He also compiled anthologies and wrote literary criticism (e.g. Swinburne: an estimate, 1913), and later became manager of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

He was married to Daisy Kennedy, the ex-wife of Benno Moiseiwitsch.

Papers relating to John Drinkwater and collected by his step daughter are held at the University of Birmingham Special Collections.

Recognition
His name was given to a towerblock on a 1960s council estate in Leytonstone.

Poetry

 * Poems. Birmingham, UK: C. Cambridge, 1903.
 * The Death of Leander, and other poems. Birmingham, UK: Cornish, 1906.
 * Lyrical, and other poems. Cranleigh, UK: Samurai Press, 1908.
 * Poems of Men and Hours. London: David Nutt, 1911.
 * Poems of Love and Earth. London: David Nutt, 1912.
 * Cromwell, and other poems. London: David Nutt, 1913.
 * Swords and Ploughshares. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1915.
 * Olton Pools. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1916.
 * Tides. London: C.W. Beaumont, 1917.
 * Poems, 1908-1914. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1917;
 * revised as Poems, 1908-1919. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1919; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1919.
 * Loyalties. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1919.
 * Seeds of Time. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1921; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1922.
 * Preludes, 1921-1922. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1922; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1923.
 * Selected Poems of John Drinkwater. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1922.
 * The Collected Poems of John Drinkwater. (2 volumes), London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1923. Volume I, Volume II
 * New Poems. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1925.
 * Persephone (illustrated by Bruce Rogers). New York: W.E. Rudge, 1926.
 * American Vignettes, 1860-1865. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1931.
 * Christmas Poems. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1931.
 * Summer Harvest: Poems, 1924-1933. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1933.
 * The Collected Poems of John Drinkwater, volume 3, 1924-1937. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1937

Plays

 * Puss in Boots: A play in five scenes. London: David Nutt, 1911.
 * Cophetua: A play in one act. London: David Nutt, 1911.
 * The Only Legend: A masque of the Scarlet Pierrot. Bourneville, UK: privately published, 1911.
 * The Pied Piper: A tale of Hamelin city. Bourneville, UK: privately published, 1912.
 * Rebellion: A play in three acts. London: David Nutt, 1914.
 * The Storm: A play in one act. Birmingham, UK: privately printed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 1915.
 * Pawns: Three poetic plays. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1917
 * published in U.S. as Pawns: Four poetic plays (introduction by Jack R. Crawford). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
 * Abraham Lincoln. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1919.
 * Oliver Cromwell. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
 * Mary Stuart: A play. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
 * Pawns and Cophetua: Four poetic plays. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1922.
 * Robert E. Lee: A play. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1923.
 * Robert Burns: A play. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1925; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1925.
 * Bird in Hand: A play in three acts. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1927; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927
 * John Bull Calling: A political parable in one act. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1928.
 * Midsummer Eve: A play primarily intended for wireless. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1931.
 * Laying the Devil: A play in three acts. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1933.
 * A Man's House: A play in three acts. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1934.
 * Garibaldi: A chronicle play of Italian freedom, in ten scenes. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1936.
 * The Collected Plays of John Drinkwater. Grosse Pointe, MI: Schloarly Press, 1968.

Non-fiction

 * William Morris: A critical study.London: M. Secker, 1912.
 * Swinburne: An estimate. London & Toronto: J.M. Dent / New York: E.P. Dutton, 1913.
 * The Lyric. London: Martin Secker, 1915; New York: Doran, 1915.
 * also published as * The Lyric: An Essay. London: Martin Secker, 1922.
 * Prose Papers. London: Elkin Mathews, 1917.
 * Abraham Lncoln: An essay. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1919.
 * Lincoln: The world emancipator. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
 * Cotswold Characters. (engravings by Paul Nash). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1921.
 * Some contributions to the English Anthology: With special reference to the seventeenth century. London: British Academy (Warton Lecture on English Poetry XIII) / Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1922.
 * The World and the Artist. London: Bookman's Journal, 1922.
 * Victorian Poetry. London & Toronto: Hodder & Stoughton, 1923.
 * The Muse in Council: Being essays on poets and poetry. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1925; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1925.
 * Mr. Charles, King of England. New York: Doran, 1926.
 * Oliver Cromwell: A character study: Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1927.
 * The Art of Theatre Going. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1927.
 * Charles James Fox. New York: Cosmopolitan, 1928.
 * The World's Lincoln. New York: Bowling Green Press, 1928.
 * Pepys: His life and character. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1930.
 * Poetry and Dogma. Bristol, UK: J. Arrowsmith, 1931.
 * Inheritance: Being the first part of an autobiography. London: Ernest Benn, 1931.
 * Shakespeare. London: Duckworth, 1933.
 * Discovery: Being the second book of an autobiography, 1897-1913. London: Ernest Benn, 1933; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933.
 * John Hampden's England. London: T. Butterworth, 1933.
 * The King's Reign: A commentary in prose and picture. London: Methuen, 1935.
 * Robinson of England. London: Methuen, 1937; New York: Macmillan, 1937.
 * English Poetry: An unfinished history. London: Methuen, 1938; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.

Juvenile

 * All About Me: Poems for a child (illustrated by H.M. Brock). London: Collins, 1928; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1928.
 * More About Me: Poems for a child (illustrated by H.M. Brock). London: Collins, 1929; Boston & New York, 1930.

Translated

 * From the German: Verses written from the German poets. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1924.

Edited

 * Douglas Goldring, A Country Boy, and other poems. London: Adelphi. 1910.
 * The Way of Poetry: An anthology of English poetry. (4 volumes), London & Glasgow: Collins, 1919; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970. Book I, Book II, Book III, Book IV
 * Philip Sidney, The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney. London: Routledge / New York: E.P. Dutton, 1922.
 * The Outline of Literature. London & New York: Putnam, 1923. Volume I, Volume II
 * An Anthology of English Verse. London: Collins, 1924; Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1924.
 * The Eighteen-Sixties: Essays by fellows of the Royal Society of Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press / New York: Macmillan, 1932.
 * A Pageant of England's Life: Presented by her poets. London: T. Butterworth, 1934.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

Audio
Drinkwater made recordings in the Columbia Records 'International Educational Society' Lecture series. They include Lecture 10 - a lecture on 'The Speaking of Verse' (Four 78rpm sides, Cat no. D 40018-40019), and Lecture 70 'John Drinkwater reading his own poems' (Four 78rpm sides, Cat no. D 40140-40141).