Mentoring Poems 4

Four Centuries of Selected Poetry

by Mary Anneeta Mann


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Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 4/9/2010

Format : E-Book
Dimensions : E-Book
Page Count : 192
ISBN : 9781449090104
Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 6x9
Page Count : 192
ISBN : 9781449090098

About the Book

This Anthology of Poetry is for educational use. It covers the period from Shakespeare’s age to the present. In these four centuries, civilization has undergone a sea change in its shift to accelerated knowledge and technological capability Poets are struggling to express it. There was great redeeming human awareness that grew out of the 20th century - a recognition of the inalienable value of the single human life, living freely, and the need for reverence for it. This is clearly illustrated in the difference between After Blenheim by Robert Southey born in 1774 and Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen born in 1893. Concerning war, “Why, ‘twas a very wicked thing!’ said little Wilhelmine; “Nay.. Nay.. My little girl,” quoth he, “It was a famous victory”, compared with “What passing bells for these who die as cattle?”
Poets are historians of the heart, the organ of love. They adjust to the best of their ability, to their surroundings, mundane or otherwise, to their environment, inspiring or depressing, to our advancing civilization at whatever level they perceive it. However there is a recognition of the fragility of life emerging in the
21St century, despite the technological revolution or perhaps because of it. Each human being is struggling to find and hold on to individual harmony with the Life Force, the love of the Universe amid a plethora of conflicting peripheral yet powerful passions, many still violating the hard-earned reverence for life.
So the poems in this Anthology have been selected for their spiritual wisdom and harmony, their dramatic use of the cadences and beauty of the English Language as well as their pure simplicity and their ability to be part of the healing process, soothing the soul, mentoring the heart and encouraging us to find meaning in our lives and to understand our role in the universe - for example, from William Davies, Nature ‘s Friends, Say what you like, all things love me! I pick no flowers - that wins the bee.”


About the Author

Mary Anneeta Mann was born and raised in Australia. She has had a lifelong love of poetry, writing her own first poem at eight years old and thriving on Poetry Anthologies that resembled this one. She was a child during the Second World War, her father having fought in the First World War. These wartime experiences propelled her toward her quest to find out why men kill each other and why women have not been able to prevent them from doing it.
Mary came to the United States of America and was living in Berkeley when the Beats were writing their poetry in the 1 950s but traveled back to Australia to secure her B.A. degree from Sydney University. She returned to Berkeley and the flower children of the 1 960s, securing her MA. from the University of California at Berkeley and writing her play “Anzac” there. She was the first Controller of the Pacifica Foundation in the 1970s then moved to Los Angeles for her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. The autobiographical part of her book ANZAC to Understanding reveals her growing awareness of the role women have played in the world and how imperative it is for the peace of the world, that they step up and secure their equality in governance around the globe. When editing this Anthology of Poetry she endeavored to find as many women poets as possible and this book is also a testament to how difficult it has been for women to have their voices heard in the past.