The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: Poems for Men [Hardcover]

Robert W. Bly (Author, Editor), James Hillman (Author, Editor), Michael Meade (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1992

An anthology of poems specially compiled for men brings together the poetry read at men's movement retreats and offers important commentary by the three leaders of the movement. $50,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It is hard not to criticize any anthology that is so bent on having a "purpose." To subsume poems under a single theme is always risky, and to enroll them in a cause detracts from their artistic nature. The poets selected here--everyone from Hesiod to Yeats, Li Po to Dickinson--are first-rate, but for that very reason their work is multi-dimensional, thus hardly about, let alone "for," men. The editors have organized the book into subjects such as "Mother and Great Mother," war, father, "Wildness" and love. Their introductions to each section too often leap from the reality of men's feelings to abstractions, Jungian archetypes and myths. As advice for reading poems, their observation that "for men depression is sometimes the entrance to the soul" hardly seems helpful, and as psychology it comes close to the old masculine cliche that pain is good and one should suffer one's feelings stoically. But even if the anthology is all too manly, it contains many great poems which speak to us all regardless of sex. And, like the men's movement itself, the book bespeaks a genuine interest in overhauling conventional notions about what is masculine. Bly ( Iron John ) is a poet; Hillman ( Re-Visioning Psychology ) is a psychologist; Meade is a scholar of myth. $50,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This anthology, divided into 16 sections representing aspects of the rites of manhood, grows out of Bly and coeditor Michael Meade's presentations to men's support groups of storytelling and poetry. Contributing insightful introductions to each section, the editors select more than 300 Jungian-intuitive poems (more effectively heard aloud) by such writers as Lorca, Neruda, Ponge, Rilke, and Vallejo. These writers are receptive to the archetypal wisdom of the unconscious, "that vision which is the ground of all initiations." Shopworn anthology pieces like "Miniver Cheevy" don't capture "moments when we feel outside time, seized by a longing" as effectively as works by unfamiliar authors (Olav H. Hauge, Gyula Illyes, Haki Madhubuti, Heinz Pasman), songs of primitive peoples, and dreamlike prose excerpts expressing the conflicting emotions that comprise a man's New Age identity.
- Frank Allen, West Virginia State Coll., Institute
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 536 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (August 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060167440
• ISBN-13: 978-0060167448
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #816,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find Pieces of Your Soul, Scribbled on Paper by Another, March 20, 2001

By 

Elderbear (Loma Linda, Aztlan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (Paperback)

.

There is nothing but water in the holy pools,

I know, I have been swimming in them.

All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can't say a word,

I know, I have been crying out to them.

The Sacred Books of the East are nothing but words,

I looked through their covers one day sideways.

What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through.

If you have not lived through something, it is not true.

-- Kabir, translated by Robert Bly (p. 282)

This eclectic offering of verse reminds the reader of what he has lived through. It illuminates forgotten & ignored experiences through rhythms and images of people who have made their lives' works out of committing the unconscious to the written page. These nuggets of truth find value as they elicit Truth from the reader's experience.

DON'T trace out your profile

forget your side view--

all that is outer sutff.

LOOK for your other half

who walks always next to you

and tends to be who you aren't.

-- Antonio Machado, translated by Bly, (p. 366)

It's difficult to flip at random through these pages, and not find an echo of something stirring deep, writhing in forgotten darkness. These words shine from the page to cast the shadow of that "Other" in sharp relief upon your mind. This is not a book of pretty verse, not poetry to read to grandma during the Christian Ladies Tea Party in the rose garden. These are words to sever the bondage to dysfunctional social programming: "We have been busy accumulating solace / Make us afraid of how we were." (Rumi, p. 135)

Although the subtitle says "Poems for Men," I'm certain women will find power & freedom in these words, too. Some poems specifically name masculine woes, sorrows & challenges. Where these do not apply directly to the lives of women, perhaps they will open a portal into men's souls for the other gender.

I've nearly worn mine out and will soon be getting another copy. If I only had one book of poetry to take to a desert island, this would be the one.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Anthology, June 2, 2000

By 

R. M. Calitri (California,USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (Paperback)

Most people like poetry more than they are willing to admit, and this book will open anyone's heart to the simplicity and complexity of poetry's possibilties. I teach college literature courses and am always searching for approachable poems to share with my poetry-fearing students. This book has been the perfect collection to break down the stony walls that separate those who love poetry and those who are just plain afraid to. The varied representations range from Cesar Vallejo to Bob Dylan to Czeslaw Milosz. Edited by that eccentric Robert Bly(et al)with the cool hand gestures and multiple recitations style, section titles such as "Making a Hole in Denial" and The Naive Male" shouldn't scare anyone away. The selections and commentaries are terrific. The only flaw is the subtitle "Poems for Men" which appears only on the title page--which is a good thing since if I'd seen it before I bought the book, I probably would have laughed thinking I had to get down to my skivvies with a drum to read out of it. Get this book if you want to read some great standards right alongside some obscure, unique discoveries. By the way, this collection may contain poems the editors meant to be for men, but they're poems for women just as well.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Medicine for the Male Soul, March 30, 2004

By 

William Trippe "Consultant and Author" (Melrose, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (Paperback)

If you loved Iron John, you should read this book. But if you either (1) didn't read Iron John, (2) tried to read but couldn't finish Iron John, or (3) hated Iron John, you should especially read this book. I have to say up front that I don't agree with, or perhaps understand, many aspects and details of the men's movement. I was one person who tried mightily to read and enjoy Iron John, but simply couldn't get all the way through it. Then I found this book, and I have been reading it since. This was 10 years ago. I am exaggerating of course, but only a little. This book is a constant in my reading habits. I refer to it again and again, and have recommended it (and purchased it) for more friends than any other book I know.

Simply, this is a wonderful anthology of poetry, organized thematically, for men. Many of the individual poems are brilliant, and the overall organization is intelligent and, at times, profound. As I have grappled with marriage, fatherhood, aging parents--all the trappings of midlife--this book has been a constant source of wisdom and comfort for me. Do a kind thing for yourself or for a thoughtful man in your life and buy this book.