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The Poetry of Katherine Mansfield (Audiobook)
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Read by Shyama Perera, Ghizela Rowe & Libby Brunton (Unabridged: 1hr 13mins)

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.

In this compilation - 

1 - The Poetry of Katherine Mansfield - An Introduction
2 - A Fine Day by Katherine Mansfield
3 - Very Early Spring by Katherine Mansfield
4 - Out in the Garden by Katherine Mansfield
5 - Spring Wind In London by Katherine Mansfield
6 - Now I Am A Plant, A Weed by Katherine Mansfield
7 - When I Was A Bird by Katherine Mansfield
8 - The Wounded Bird by Katherine Mansfield
9 - 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