Good Friday, and other poems: Play Guide and Free Edition
Good Friday, and other poems: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
Good Friday, and other poems is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Masefield, John (1878–1967).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
"Good Friday, and other poems" by John Masefield is a poetry collection written in the early 20th century. It centers on a dramatic retelling of the Passion through the voices of Pilate, his wife Procula, the centurion Longinus, a priestly envoy, a blind madman, Joseph of Ramah, and Herod, then broadens into sonnets meditating on beauty, the self, faith and doubt, nature, death, and war. The likely focus is the conflict between conscience and authority, and how suffering and beauty reveal deeper truth. The opening of the collection stages the Pavement outside the Roman citadel in Jerusalem, where Pilate, swayed by Procula’s ominous dream and a priest’s charge that Jesus claims kingship, wavers but finally condemns him as the crowd clamors for crucifixion. A blind madman pleads for mercy, Pilate posts the inscription “King of the Jews,” and the soldiers lead Jesus away; darkness and an earthquake follow, Longinus returns shaken by the portents, Joseph of Ramah secures permission to bury the body, and Herod arrives to make a political peace with Pilate as the mob cheers. After this dramatic scene, the text shifts to sonnets that probe beauty, the inner self, mortality, possible afterlives, nature’s cycles, the ruptures of war, and recurring Good Friday imagery, before this excerpt closes with “The Madman’s Song,” a parable of a besieged city saved by the scorned wisdom of a madman.
Book and edition facts
- Title: Good Friday, and other poems
- Author credits: Masefield, John (1878–1967)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- English poetry -- 20th century
- Jesus Christ -- Crucifixion -- Drama
- Sonnets, English
- Verse drama
Gutenberg collections
- Category: British Literature
- Category: Poetry
- Category: Religion/Spirituality
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View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.
Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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