I first encountered robert bly s reflections on men in the may, 1982 new age journal interview by keith thompson, reproduced with keiths gracious permission in the following pages. Bly uses his ramble through literature to explore deep issues that play out in mens personal and work lives. Aug 06, 2016 ahead of a new film about robert bly, mark rylance recalls how the poet helped him to live with loss mark rylance sat 6 aug 2016 07. When i attended my first men s conference in 1983, i met men who, knowing nothing about bly, had crossed the country to be there because of it. May 30, 2012 the mythopoetic men s movement grew as a reaction to the secondwave feminist movement. We are living at an important and fruitful moment now, for it is dear to men that the images of adult manhood given by the popular culture are worn out. Zelazny jan iron john a gathering of men with bill moyers, made robert bly a household name. Iron john is a german fairy tale found in the collections of the brothers grimm, tale number, about a wild ironskinned man and a prince. Poet robert bly has for a number of years now worn another hat.
The men s movement was a valuable if much weaker reflection of female mutual support activity. The men who live today have veered far away from the. In iron john, robert bly presented a moderately interesting idea in a very unsatisfying way. Your life has been so entirely occupied with writing poetry, editing and translation of poems, how did your work with men come about. Here, using the grimm fairy tale iron john as a vehicle, bly explores the myths and cultural underpinnings of a distinctly vigorous male mode of feeling, a. Inspired and led by poet robert bly, theeminence griseof this new mens movement and whose book,iron john,topped the bestseller lists for more than 35 weeks in 1991 dozens oftherapists and mythopoetic journeymen currently offer workshops, retreats and seminars to facilitate their gender. Bill moyers and poet robert bly explore the changing role of men in modern america. His resulting book about this ageold story helped establish the mens movement, and. How robert bly started the mens movement new york magazine. A book about men, the founding text of the mythopoetic mens movement. Bly s vision is based on his ongoing work with men and reflections on his own life.
A book about men 1990 spent 62 weeks on the new york times best seller list, being an exegesis of the tale of iron john collected by the brothers grimm. Kupers psyche, society, and the men s movement chris bullock cultural daddyism and male hysteria david m. The book uses a fairy tale from the brothers grimm to outline the parts of what bly believes make a whole and wholesome man. Bly has received many awards, including the national book. The myth of iron john follows the development of a young prince from his early ties to his mother, to his maturation and entry into the world of his father. How men can recover their identity and why women cant help, by verne becker all of these books were written for men who no longer understood what it. A book about men by the poet robert bly, who argued that male energy. The attractiveness of the mythopoetic mens movement, especially as represented by poet robert blys iron john 1990, to the american. Robert bly 1926 full name robert elwood bly american poet, translator, critic, essayist, and nonfiction writer.
His resulting book about this ageold story helped establish the mens movement, and his seminars inspired its drumbeating, tree. Iron john was first published in 1990 and was a bestseller, a cultural phenomena. During this time, male behavior and dynamics have been considered primarily in terms of their relation to, or effect on, womens development. The term mythopoetic was coined by professor shepherd bliss in preference to the term new age mens movement.
Bly became a champion of men at a time when many males were. That quest, of course, led directly to iron john, bly s often brilliant exploration of the grimm brothers tale in which a boy discovers, in the person of a wild man covered with rustcolored hair at the bottom of a pond, a powerful teacher. Authorpoet robert bly is the author of iron john and sibling society. Various horizontal forces have recently pulled the womens work away from feeling and pulled the men s work toward fundamentalism. A book about men by robert bly in this timeless and deeply learned classic, poet and translator robert bly offers nothing less than a new vision of what it means to be a man. John a book about men even in our era the agreedon model has changed drastically. A book about men 1990, which spent 62 weeks on the new york times best seller list, and is a key text of the mythopoetic men s movement. Iron john searches for a new vision of what a man is or could be, drawing on psychology, anthropology, mythology, folklore and legend. The movement did not oft address politics, but was more rooted in spirituality and psychoanalysis, acting as a sort of selfhelp forum for me to better express their feelings. Revisiting jill johnstons critique of robert bly and. In april, 1957 son robert s first child, john robert iii, died three days after a premature birth of six weeks and was buried at the foot of the same grave. Often lost in discussion of the politics of this bookreal or supposedis the fact that it may represent blys highwater mark as a prose stylist. By the mid1990s, one could observe men dressed in tatters of leather, middleaged bellies flapping in the breeze, beating drums in circles in the parks of many major, and a few minor, american. Robert bly writes that it is clear to men that the images of adult manhood given by popular culture are worn out, that a man can no longer depend on them.
Nov 10, 2015 robert bly is a poet, author, translator, activist, and leader of the mythopoetic men s movement. Iron john searches for a new vision of what a man is or could be. Every page goes through several hundred of perfecting techniques. While the mens movement was already well along at the time, blys controversial 1990 bestseller almost singlehandedly brought that movement into the national spotlight.
A book about men is a book by american poet robert bly published in 1990 by addisonwesley, and is his bestknown work. In this deeply learned book, poet and translator robert bly offers nothing less than a new vision of what it is to be a man. Recently, however, there has been renewed interest in considering the psychological issues of men as. Iron john a book about man pdf, construction dewatering and groundwater control new methods and applications pdf, in this deeply learned book, poet and translator robert bly offers nothing less than a new vision of what it is to be a man. Pdf iron john a book about men download pdf free ebook. In 1990, the year iron john was published, i was 16, and i vividly remember picking up a newspaper published by the mythopoetic mens movement in a healthfood store and doubling over with. Johnson, joseph campbell, and other jungian authors. Among its most famous advocates was the poet bly, whose book iron john. Robert and ruth bly have been married since mar 1, robert a. Robert bly was born in western minnesota, and attended harvard university and the. A lack of irony is what killed iron john, poet robert bly s call to arms for a mens movement published in 1990. University park, pa, and the national digital newspaper program. Martin amis return of the male lrb 5 december 1991.
He won the 1968 national book award for poetry for his book the light around the body. Mothers, says bly, must relinquish their babies to enable their sons to grow up. Women read iron john openly, hoping to glean some insider information while men read the book furtivelyat least at first. The mythopoetic men s movement aims to liberate men from the constraints of the modern world which keep them from being in touch with their true masculine nature, and is best known for the rituals that take place during their gatherings. At this web site, readers will find information on every facet of robert blys literary. See also robert bly literary criticism volume 1, and volumes 2, 5, 15, 128. A book about men is a book by american poet robert bly published. Robert bly is a poet and storyteller best known for his work in recent years leading mens groups. During the past 20 years, in the context of the contemporary feminist movement, the study of gender issues has centered on the psychology of women. About the author robert bly is a poet, author, translator, activist, and leader of the mythopoetic men s movement. I have read the book, and have even attended a workshop run by robert bly and michael mead in dorset recently. The novel demonstrates the harsh reality of what it is like to be utterly lost within something that is so comfortable. Emphasizing a tempering of a mans psyche through confronting the grief in his life, iron john proposed an expressive alternative to the stoicism of. Mythopoetic men s movement from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the mythopoetic men s movement sometimes mistakenly referred to simply as the men s movement refers to a loose collection of organizations active in men s work since the early 1980s.
A seldom noted part of the mens movement is the mythopoetic mens movement, which was established by american poet, author and activist, robert bly. Mythopoetic mens movement wikipedia republished wiki 2. The hunter returns to the forest the next day with a group of men to empty the eiswnhans. Iron john 1990 robert bly robert bly is a wellrespected american poet. The mythopoetic men s movement spawned a variety of selfhelp groups and workshops, led by authors such as robert bly, michael j. There are few road maps for students who carry our muchvalued diversity, and few tools for those who remain ignorant of the diverse riches in their midst. Bly mixes ideas from the ancient east with 20thcentury sociology and psychology in his poetry and music.
And most people, men or women, do not know what genuine outward or inward warriors would look like, or feel like. Finding rich meaning in ancient stories and legends, bly uses the grimm fairy tale iron john, in which the narrator, or wild man, guides a young man through eight stages of male growth, to remind us of archetypes long forgottenimages of vigorous masculinity, both protective and emotionally centered. Nineteen ninety, the watershed year for the mens movement in the u. He is a prolific author who has published more than 30 books of poetry, edited a magazine to introduce foreign poets to an english audience, and given workshops on masculinity based on his book iron john. They validated the questions and confusing experiences males have.
An exegesis of iron john, a parable about a boy maturing into adulthood with help of the wild man, and part of the grimms fairy tales published in 1812 by german folklorists brothers grimm, it spent 62 weeks on the new york times best seller list and went on to. He is also a renowned translator, editor, and a founder of the mens movement. Nineteen ninety, the watershed year for the men s movement in the u. Women read iron john openly, hoping to glean some insider information while men read the book furtivelyat least at f. The center feels that divorce laws in particular put men at a. The mythopoetic mens movement was a body of selfhelp activities and therapeutic workshops. Bly is best known for his 1990 book iron john vintage, which proposes that modern men suffer from a lack of male mentors and initiation rituals. The original german title is eisenhans, a compound of eisen iron and hans. Iron john, by robert bly charlotte allen, commentary. Robert bly has been hailed as one of the key liberators of american poetry.
Most american men today do not have enough awakened or living warriors inside to defend their soul houses. Robert bly is a poet, author, translator, activist, and leader of the mythopoetic men s movement. Bly s reading analyzes the story for lessons about masculinity applicable to 20thcentury men, and became a major work of the mythopoetic mens movement. Robert bly, poet and cultural firebrand, has been stirring up controversy for the past forty years. Mythopoets adopted a general style of psychological selfhelp inspired by the work of robert bly, robert a. Robert bly 1990 chapter one the pillow and the key we talk a great deal about the american man, as if there were some constant quality that remained stable over decades, or even within a single decade. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.
Robert bly is an american poet, author, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men s movement. I think the men s seminars were not threatening to the womens movement at all, but a lot of the critics of iron john missed the point. His book iron john explores male initiation as practiced in various cultures this is an excerpt from a conversation between bly and alexander blairewart, editor of dimensions magazine in. The most wellknown text of the movement was iron john. Wild life centres on adam, a corporate drone who through his mounting addictions and lack of control gives up his stable but mundane life and swaps it for living among nature. This anthology, divided into 16 sections representing aspects of the rites of manhood, grows out of bly and coeditor michael meades presentations to men s support groups. By the mid1990s, one could observe men dressed in tatters of leather, middleaged bellies flapping in. Iron john, which launched a million men drumming in the woods, bly has been. Full text of the christian century in japan by charles ralph boxer 15491650, university of california presss, 1951, 1967, 499 pages see other formats. Robert bly is a poet, author, translator, activist, and leader of the mythopoetic mens movement.
Some feminists have responded to your work saying that a men s movement encourages rigid gender roles and creates a sort. Revisiting jill johnstons critique of robert bly and iron john the. Robert bly born december 23, 1926 is an american poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men s movement. Bly s vision is based on his ongoing work with men. Bly has received many awards, including the national book award, for his poetry. The mythopoetic mens movement was a body of selfhelp activities and therapeutic workshops and retreats for men undertaken by various organizations and authors in the united states from the early 1980s through the 1990s. A book about men, the founding text of the mythopoetic men s movement.
Today, at the age of seventyseven, he is writing what many recognize to be the most important poetry of his literary career. The short and tragic life of robert peace reveals the devastating consequences of this assumption. Its been largely reduced to a joke, and thats too bad, says jess row, a writer and english professor at. Across the united stat esandcan ada, men have been gathering in search of their manhood. He addresses the devastating effects of remote fathers and mourns the disappearance of male. The mythopoetic men s movement grew as a reaction to the secondwave feminist movement.
Robert bly, the awardwinning poet who lives in minnesota, is one of the leaders of the mens movement. It says that where a mans wound is, that is where his genius will be. Young men need initiation into adulthood, to be welcomed among the fathers of the world, or they rage and sulk alone through life. Bly had been giving talks on mythology to supplement his income, and found that the brothers grimm tale iron john hit a nerve with men. Robert bly, michael meade and a few others did what they could as older men supporting younger men. To be a man, a book of essays edited by keith thompson. How poet robert bly unleashed iron john and started the drumthumping mens movement of the 90s.
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