John Masefield

A Creed (Masefield)

I hold that when a person dies
His soul returns again to earth;
Arrayed in some new flesh-disguise
Another mother gives him birth.
With sturdier limbs and brighter brain
The old soul takes the road again.
Such is my own belief and trust;
This hand, this hand that holds the pen,
Has many a hundred times been dust
And turned, as dust, to dust again;
These eyes of mine have blinked and shown

Ancient cities catalog

Thebes, Troy, Babylon—three cities destroyed by war or time. He's claiming his soul witnessed the fall of civilizations, making reincarnation feel like a curse of endless watching.

In Thebes, in Troy, in Babylon.
All that I rightly think or do,
Or make, or spoil, or bless, or blast,
Is curse or blessing justly due
For sloth or effort in the past.
My life's a statement of the sum

Karmic accounting

He's treating reincarnation like a ledger. Every current action is either payment for past debt or investment in future lives—strict cosmic bookkeeping with no escape clause.

Of vice indulged, or overcome.
I know that in my lives to be
My sorry heart will ache and burn,
And worship, unavailingly,
The woman whom I used to spurn,
And shake to see another have
The love I spurned, the love she gave.
And I shall know, in angry words,
In gibes, and mocks, and many a tear,

Carrion birds metaphor

His cruel words return as scavenger birds coming home to roost. The "homing" makes it inevitable—insults circle back like vultures to the corpse that fed them.

A carrion flock of homing-birds,
The gibes and scorns I uttered here.
The brave word that I failed to speak
Will brand me dastard on the cheek.
And as I wander on the roads
I shall be helped and healed and blessed;
Dear words shall cheer and be as goads
To urge to heights before unguessed.
My road shall be the road I made;
All that I gave shall be repaid.
So shall I fight, so shall I tread,
In this long war beneath the stars;
So shall a glory wreathe my head,
So shall I faint and show the scars,
Until this case, this clogging mould,
Be smithied all to kingly gold.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Masefield's Theosophical Turn

CONTEXT Masefield wrote this around 1910-1912, during his intense interest in Theosophy—the occult movement popularized by Madame Blavatsky that mixed Eastern reincarnation with Western mysticism. Unlike Christian resurrection (one life, one judgment), Theosophy taught karma and soul evolution through many lives.

The poem reads like doctrine. Notice the declarative verbs: "I hold," "I know," "I shall." This isn't speculation—it's a manifesto. Masefield structures it as systematic theology: stanza 1 states the belief, stanza 2 offers evidence (his own sense of ancient memory), stanzas 3-6 work out the moral implications.

The karma mechanics are unusually harsh. Most Theosophists emphasized spiritual progress; Masefield fixates on punishment. Stanza 4's future torment (spurning love, then aching for it) and stanza 5's "carrion flock" of returned insults suggest he's haunted by specific regrets. The poem becomes a public confession dressed as cosmic law—he's explaining why he deserves future suffering.

The Trap of Endless Lives

Most reincarnation poems celebrate continuity or wisdom gained. Masefield's vision is claustrophobic. Count the negatives: "sorry heart," "ache and burn," "unavailingly," "carrion," "scars," "clogging mould." Even the positive stanza 6 ("helped and healed") is just a brief respite before returning to war imagery.

"this long war beneath the stars"

The military metaphor dominates the final stanza. Reincarnation isn't spiritual enlightenment—it's trench warfare. "Fight," "tread," "faint," "scars"—he's a soldier who can never leave the battlefield. The "glory" that "wreathes my head" sounds like a funeral wreath as much as a victor's laurel.

The final couplet offers the only escape: becoming "kingly gold" means refining the soul until it's pure enough to stop reincarnating. But notice "this case, this clogging mould"—flesh is a prison. The poem's theology promises eventual freedom, but its emotional tone suggests Masefield expects to fight this war for a very long time.