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The Book of Celtic Verse
The Book of Celtic Verse: A Treasury of Poetry, Dreams & Visions | John Matthews
29 posts | 2 read
An inspirational collection of Celtic Poetry compiled by the leading authority on the Celtic tradition.
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review
GingerAntics
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Mehso-so

This pretty good collection of poetry. The sections are somewhat questionable. All the love poems are depressing and amazingly violent. There are poems nature poems that would have at least balanced the love poems a little bit. His love section makes it seem like the Celtic peoples are homicidal toward the object of their affection 99% of the time.
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GingerAntics I am not a fan of the editor‘s wife (I couldn‘t place why his name seemed so familiar to me when I chose the collection but soon figure it out), and he found cause to add at least one of her poems at the end of each section. Five pages from the end of the collection, suddenly he‘s now a poet, too. I passed on all of the above. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 4y
GingerAntics The nature poetry was my favourite. I might recommend this collection for that alone so long as the person in question really likes nature poetry. If not, I‘d probably pass on it. I liked the premise of this collection, but didn‘t really like part (most?) of the execution. This is supposedly a “treasury of poetry, dreams, and visions.” I‘m not sure about the treasury, dreams, or visions. Poems, yes. #JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry 4y
13 likes2 comments
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GingerAntics
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5 pages from the end of the entire book, suddenly he‘s a poet now? Pass.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #JohnMatthews #Pass

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GingerAntics
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Some more Arthurian poetry. This one is rather fun, I think.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #PhilipClaytonGore #Merlin

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GingerAntics
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Not sure why I like this one, but I do.
Also, I think this poet‘s name is Francis L Edwidge, it somehow Matthews has stuck the L onto the end of Francis.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #FrancislEdwidge #LamentForThomasMacDonagh

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GingerAntics
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I love the questions and observations of this one.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #GeorgeMacDonald #WhyDoTheHousesStand

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GingerAntics
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I‘m not sure why this is a “child‘s” song, but I like it.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #ThomasMoore #ChildsSong

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GingerAntics
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GingerAntics
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Some okay poetry to add to my growing collection of things Arthurian.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #ThomasSamuelJonesJr #Arthur

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GingerAntics
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Just finished “Part Two: The High Dream of Nature.” Skipping right over the rest of part 3: love poetry in favour of this.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #WarriorsAndWarlords #SaveMeFromTheLovePoetry #MoreNaturePoetry #NaturePoetryIsLovePoetry

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GingerAntics
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This is another one a REALLY love from this collection. Nature poetry for the win.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #naturepoetry #naturepoetryislovepoetry #GrahaemeBarrasfordYoung #CarnGhluasaid

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GingerAntics
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Now THIS is a love poem!!!
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #IoloAneurinWilliams #Silences #LovePoem #NaturePoem #FoundItInTheNatureSection #introvertlovepoem
@TheBookHippie I absolutely 100% agree with what you said about nature poetry being the most beautiful...and here is the proof!!!

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GingerAntics
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I LOVE this poem!!! 💚💚💚 It dovetails very nicely with the book I just finished, Legends of the Grail.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #ThomasSamuelJonesJr #NewGrange

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GingerAntics
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Now THIS is a love poem...found in the nature section, very far from the love section.
(Hopefully you can read it - basically women are birds)
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #SeumasOSullivan #Birds #LovePoetry #WomenAreBirds

GingerAntics Truly these women are like birds; they take
Their pleasures delicately; now they stand
Upon the pavement with a foot upraised,
Nestling an ankled softness. Now launch out
Across the crowded street, scarce touching it,
4y
GingerAntics Like water-hens across the sedgy lake,
Or stand in sunlight preening, like a bird
Above still water, or, when rain looms dark,
Crowd into some tall doorway wing by wing,
Like peacocks under yew trees in the Park,
Delicate and delightful and absurd,
4y
GingerAntics Then venture forth again. Upgathering
Feather-like frills, they step demure as nuns,
Nor heed the menacing eyes on every side,
Dead set unceasingly like levelled guns,
Truly I think each woman is a bird.
4y
12 likes3 comments
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GingerAntics
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OUCH!!! That was cold.
I‘m not sure Matthews knows what a love poem is.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #SirRobertAyton #InconsistencyReproved #cold #heartless

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GingerAntics
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This one I actually like. Apart from the “innocent occupation for a girl,” I really like this poem.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #WoodlandLovers

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GingerAntics
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These folks (mostly men) have really interesting, not at all pleasant or positive, ideas of love. Did these poems actually manage to woo anyone?
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #HywelAbOwenGwynedd #ToAGirl #trampledbyahorse #wtf

TheBookHippie 🤣🤣🤣 4y
GingerAntics @TheBookHippie I finally gave up on the love poems section and went back to the nature poems section...and promptly found a love poem to Ireland in the Spring and a love poem to all women for their beauty and grace. All the poems in the love section are violent and a little bit creepy. Lots of horrible deaths are found there. 4y
TheBookHippie @GingerAntics poetry is so crazy sometimes and is usually written by drunk men who are love starved 🤣🤣🤷🏽‍♀️ usually nature poems are the most beautiful. 4y
GingerAntics @TheBookHippie I‘m with you on the nature poems. I was just thinking that the love poetry sounded like it was written by ancient angry incels or something. Drunk and love starved sounds more poetic. I like that better. It‘s official. More nature poetry. 4y
TheBookHippie @GingerAntics 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 4y
11 likes5 comments
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GingerAntics
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The beauty myth has been alive and well for at least 11 centuries.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #VisionOfAFairWoman #beautymyth

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GingerAntics
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Nothing says love like choking to death!!!
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #WhatIsLove #ChokingToDeath

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GingerAntics
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This isn‘t in this collection, I just rather like it. If I ever get married, it will be to a man that would happily say this type of vow (on our wedding day, but more importantly every day).

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GingerAntics
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Even though Valentine‘s Day is a fake holiday and I would be more than happy to ignore it (especially if all the diamond and jewellery commercials would go away - if you don‘t have it by now, what‘s the point?) I skipped ahead (for the day) to the love poems section of this collection. You‘re welcome. Do I look properly cheery and excited about the empty holiday? No? Didn‘t think so. Oh well.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry

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GingerAntics
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I‘m quite enjoying Ella Young. I‘m going to look into more of her.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #EllaYoung #TheWindFromTheWest

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GingerAntics
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Crazeedi You found some beautiful poetry!💕 4y
16 likes1 comment
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GingerAntics
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These are just the last three stanzas, but I‘ve always loved this poem. I‘m so glad it was included in this collection. It‘s a great little poem.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #PangurBan

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GingerAntics
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I‘m officially 1/5 of the way through this collection. On to the poems about the natural world. I rather liked this one... but this is already seems to be about the natural world, so the next section will be interesting.#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #RossNichols #CelticSong

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GingerAntics
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This explains SO much, and I finally figured out why the last name was familiar. I read a “turning of the seasons” book by her and stopped just short of completing it because she said that sometimes abusers are provoked by their victims. Given she was born and raised in the 1950‘s, that explains that madness. Still don‘t agree with her and still not reading her.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #CaitlinMatthews #pass

GingerAntics Her husband‘s name just happens to be John Matthews. That doesn‘t necessarily mean this collection was put together by her husband, but it does make me a little uneasy. 4y
GingerAntics UPDATE: it‘s her husband. Ugh. At least none of this is written by him. I‘ll just skip any poems written by her (the one that was there already was horrible, actually). 4y
12 likes2 comments
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GingerAntics
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Really liked this one. I can‘t quite put my finger on why.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry

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GingerAntics
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This collection is going to take me a while. There is a lot in here. Some of them seem to fall apart at the end, but this one worked nicely.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry #Tailesin #TailesinsNature

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GingerAntics
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15 likes2 comments
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GingerAntics
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My continued adventure with poetry has arrived here. This may also be, in some ways, rebellion against the madness found within the pages of The Purity Myth.
#JohnMatthews #TheBookOfCelticVerse #poetry