The poetry of W.H. Davies

William Henry Davies was born in the Pillgwenlly district of Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, a busy port on July 3rd, 1871.

Davies seemed to find childhood difficult. By the age of 13 he was arrested, part of a gang of five schoolmates, and charged with stealing handbags.

He was given twelve strokes of the birch. The following year, 1885, Davies wrote his first poem; 'Death.' His yearning was to travel.

In a half dozen years, he crossed the Atlantic at least annually by working on cattle ships.

He travelled through many of the states, sometimes begging, sometimes taking seasonal work, but would often spend any savings on a drinking spree with a fellow traveller.

In London, he came across a newspaper story about the riches to be made in the Klondike and immediately set off to make his fortune in Canada.