The Poetry of Katherine Mansfield

By: Katherine Mansfield

Narrated by: Shyama Perera, Ghizela Rowe, Libby Brunton

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

A gifted celloist, at one point she thought she might take it up professionally but writing gradually began to move to the forefront of her interests. Her first writings were published at an early age in school magazines.

At 19 Katherine left for England, where she met and befriended the modernist writers D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, amongst others. She then travelled to Europe before returning to New Zealand. There she began to write the short stories that she would later become so famous for. Her stories often focus on moments of disruption and frequently open rather abruptly.

There was another less-heralded side to Katherine’s writings; that of poetry. Her verse certainly reflects much of the themes of her life and interests. Many poems are beautiful, thoughtful, tender and observant works on the human condition. Some though seem out of kilter for so great a talent, almost child-like in form and content. But taken as yet another facet of her work they accomplish much in helping us to understand her.

By 1908 she had returned to London and to a rather more bohemian lifestyle. Life was to be lived and enjoyed. A passionate affair resulted in her becoming pregnant and in her being married off to an older man. But she left him 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 he supported her work and she wrote 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 9th January 1923 in Fontainebleau, France.

01 - The Poetry of Katherine Mansfield - An Introduction

02 - A Fine Day by Katherine Mansfield

03 - Very Early Spring by Katherine Mansfield

04 - Out in the Garden by Katherine Mansfield

05 - Spring Wind In London by Katherine Mansfield

06 - Now I Am A Plant, A Weed by Katherine Mansfield

07 - When I Was A Bird by Katherine Mansfield

08 - The Wounded Bird by Katherine Mansfield

09 - Across the Red Sky by Katherine Mansfield

10 - Voices of the Air by Katherine Mansfield

11 - Autumn Song by Katherine Mansfield

12 - Winter Song by Katherine Mansfield

13 - There is a Solemn Wind Tonight by Katherine Mansfield

14 - The Storm by Katherine Mansfield

15 - Night Scented Stock by Katherine Mansfield

16 - Evening Song of the Thoughtful Child by Katherine Mansfield

17 - The Town Between the Hills by Katherine Mansfield

18 - The Candle by Katherine Mansfield

19 - Little Girl's Prayer by Katherine Mansfield

20 - A Little Boy's Dream by Katherine Mansfield

21 - To LHB by Katherine Mansfield

22 - A Day in Bed by Katherine Mansfield

23 - A Few Rules For Beginners by Katherine Mansfield

24 - Fairy Tale by Katherine Mansfield

25 - Camomile Tea by Katherine Mansfield

26 - The Earth Child in the Grass by Katherine Mansfield

27 - There Was a Child Once by Katherine Mansfield

28 - Sanary by Katherine Mansfield

29 - The Sea Child by Katherine Mansfield

30 - Sea Song by Katherine Mansfield

31 - Sea by Katherine Mansfield

32 - The Awakening River by Katherine Mansfield

33 - Waves by Katherine Mansfield

34 - The Opal Dream Cave by Katherine Mansfield

35 - In the Rangitaki Valley by Katherine Mansfield

36 - Villa Pauline by Katherine Mansfield

37 - Butterfly Laughter by Katherine Mansfield

38 - The Gulf by Katherine Mansfield

39 - Deaf House Agent by Katherine Mansfield

40 - Opposites by Katherine Mansfield

41 - Country Women by Katherine Mansfield

42 - The Arabian Shawl by Katherine Mansfield

43 - Covering Wings by Katherine Mansfield

44 - Sorrowing Love by Katherine Mansfield

45 - The Meeting by Katherine Mansfield

46 - The Quarrel by Katherine Mansfield

47 - A Joyful Song of Five by Katherine Mansfield

48 - Sleeping Together by Katherine Mansfield

49 - Loneliness by Katherine Mansfield

50 - A New Hymn by Katherine Mansfield

51 - Stars by Katharine Mansfield

52 - To God the Father by Katherine Mansfield

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