Walter De la Mare

Born in 1873, Walter de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist whose work became known for its haunting atmosphere, delicate music, and sense of the unseen. Reliable reference sources agree that he is especially remembered for writing for children, for the poem The Listeners, and for psychologically unsettling short fiction.

Before writing full time, he worked in the London office of the Anglo-American Oil Company. Reference sources also note that he was educated at St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School, and that his writing often returned to dreams, childhood, fantasy, and ghostly or evanescent moments.

De la Mare died in 1956. His reputation has lasted because his best work feels both gentle and uncanny at once: inviting readers into quiet, beautifully made worlds where something mysterious is always just out of sight.