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The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux (Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Saint Therese of Lisieux) (Centenary Edition 1873-1973)

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"The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux" is the English translation of the critical edition of Therese's poetry. For the first time it makes available in English all Therese's poems, her least known writings. Some ("Living on Love," "Why I Love You, O Mary," "The Unpetalled Rose") are major works; some, occasional writings. Fr. Kinney's intimate and delicate understanding of Therese has blossomed into a remarkably clear, faithful, and lyrical translation. Therese reveals herself completely in the poems, which have an atmosphere of unguarded tenderness, of a child at play in the universe, searching all creation for images sufficient to tell her love for the Creator. While expressing freely the atmosphere of freshness, innocence, and playful abandon that surrounds Therese's poems, Fr. Kinney also gives the reader access to the graphic and stark images which spoke to Therese. The notes to these 54 poems enrich our understanding of Therese and of her relationships with the sisters and brothers for whom many of them were written. In this book Therese is as completely available to the reader as she was to those with whom she lived, to whom she tried to be "an open book."

As we all know, Therese Martin carries the burden of the late 19th century bourgeois French idiom. Having said that, if one is willing to look beyond that, these are wonderful poems. What courage this young woman had! I find particularly moving her poem, "the unpetaled rose." What unflinching courage she models for us.