The Poetry Of Katherine Mansfield: "The pleasure of all readings is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books."

By Katherine Mansfield

In this volume we examine the poetry of Katherine Mansfield. She was born on 14th October 1888 into a prominent family in Wellington, New Zealand the middle child of five. A gifted Cello, at one point she thought she might take it up professionally the young Katherine’s first writings were published in school magazines. At 19 Katherine left for Great Britain and met the modernist writers D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf with whom she became close friends. She travelled to Europe before returning to New Zealand in 1906 she began to write the short stories that she would later become famous for. By 1908 she had returned to London and to a rather more bohemian lifestyle. A passionate affair resulted in her becoming pregnant but married off instead to an older man who she left the same evening with the marriage unconsummated. She was then to miscarry and be cut out of her mothers will (allegedly because of her lesbianism). In 1911 she was to start a relationship with John Middleton Murry a magazine editor and although it was volatile it enabled her to write some of her best work. During the First World War Mansfield contracted extrapulmonary tuberculosis, which rendered any return or visit to New Zealand impossible and led to her death at the tender age of 34 on January 9th 1923 in Fontainebleau, France.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Word To The Wise
• Release date: Oct 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781780008080

Katherine Mansfield

Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp was born in New Zealand in 1888. Her father sent her and her sisters to school in London, where she was editor of the school newspaper. Back in New Zealand, she started to write short stories but she grew tired of her life there. She returned to Europe in 1908 and went on to live in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. A restless soul who had many love affairs, her modernist writing was admired by her peers such as Leonard and Virginia Woolf, who published her story ‘Prelude’ on their Hogarth Press. In 1917 she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and she died in France aged only thirty-four.

Book preview

The Poetry Of Katherine Mansfield

Poetry is a fascinating use of language.  With almost a million words at its command it is not surprising that these Isles have produced some of the most beautiful, moving and descriptive verse through the centuries.  In this series we look at individual poets who have shaped and influenced their craft and cement their place in our heritage.  In this volume we look at the works of the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield.

She was born on 14th October 1888 into a prominent family in Wellington, New Zealand the middle child of five.

A gifted Cello, at one point she thought she might take it up professionally the young Katherine’s first writings were published in school magazines

At 19 Katherine left for Great Britain and met the modernist writers D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf with whom she became close friends.

She travelled to Europe before returning to New Zealand in 1906 she began to write the short stories that she would later become famous for.  Her stories often focus on moments of disruption and frequently open rather abruptly.  In this volume of her poetry her views on life are certainly reflected in her works.  By no means is her work great but it is certainly full of interest and observations that make it essential reading for anyone in thrall to her other works.

By 1908 she had returned to London and to a rather more bohemian lifestyle. A passionate affair resulted in her becoming pregnant but married off instead to an older man who she left the same evening with the marriage unconsummated.  She was then to miscarry and be cut out of her mother’s will (allegedly because of her lesbianism).

In 1911 she was to start a relationship with John Middleton Murry a magazine editor and although it was volatile it enabled her to write some of her best stories.

During the First World War Mansfield contracted extrapulmonary tuberculosis, which rendered any return or visit to New Zealand impossible and led to her death at the tender age of 34 on January 9th 1923 in Fontainebleau, France

Many of these stories are also available as an audiobook from our sister company Word Of Mouth.  Many samples are at our youtube channel   http://www.youtube.com/user/PortablePoetry?feature=mhee   The full volume can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.  They are read for you by Richard Mitchley

Index Of Poems

A Few Rules For Beginners

A Day In Bed

Camomile Tea

Butterfly Laughter

Grown Up Talk

Deaf House Agent

In The Rangitaki Valley

The Gulf

Across The Red Sky

Voices of The Air

Night Scented Stock

Now I Am A Plant, A Weed.....

The Man With The Wooden Leg

A Little Girl’s Prayer

A Little Boy’s Dream

There Was A Child Once

Covering Wings

When I Was A Bird

The Wounded Bird

Countrywomen

The Opal Dream Cave

The Pillar Box

Song Of Karen, The Dancing