The Works of G.K. Chesterton

by G.K. Chesterton

This work comprises a collection of the poetry of G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton's poetry ranges from the bibulous "The Rolling English Road" through the action-packed epic "Lepanto", and to the bitter social comment of "Eligy in a country Churchyard".

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Philosophy, Essays, Religion, Mystery

302 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1941

About the author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.

He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.

Reviews

[Amy Katherine Wolff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depending on which of the 36 books I was reading, some of them I found to be very cerebral, and encouraging of my religious faith, even though I am not a Catholic. Others of the works were stories- pleasure reading, and I enjoyed them as well.

The biographies were very difficult for me as I had trouble following what Chesterton was relating to.

As Chesterton wrote of some of his contemporaries, like Bernard Shaw, I had a very difficult time relating, as I am not as familiar with those people, as I am an American, and as my knowledge of those people is not very good, I found those writings a bit boring, to be honest.

I think my favorites were "Orthodoxy", "Heretics", and "The Superstition of Divorce", each of which were among his non-fiction writings.

I LOVE Chesterton's writings about God and faith... and found them to be very thought provoking. It is hard to write a review while "reviewing" 36 separate books, which were quite different from one another.

[Jesse Broussard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely magnificent. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to every person on the planet: it's one of those essential books. Not a single complaint with it, save that it ended and neglected his poem comparing men and women. Just great; one of the best collections of poetry I own.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Chesterson was never given the credit he deserved as one of the best 20th century authors. My favorite thing about him was the fact that he despised fanatics on both the left and the right. Search this guy out, you wont be dissapointed.

[Prisoner 071053 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of Chesterton's poetry is good fun. Most of it, really. The topping piece, however, is his Ballad of the White Horse.

[Aaron Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant poetry. Ballad of the Battle of Gibeon is mandatory memorization for all Cummings children.

[Bruno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply Excellent

[J. Alfred · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, this book loses many points for being impossible to find. I have looked for this precise volume literally for years, but never found it because, for a reason utterly beyond my ken, it does not have Poetry or any of its cognates in its title, and yet, surely, the Collected Poetical Works of GK Chesterton should bear that title. This title implies that Chesterton's work, or at least his most important works, are poems, when not even the people who like Chesterton's poetry would claim that-- he's vastly more important as an essayist, and even considerably more important as a novelist (and most of his novels are no good). Okay, so it's badly named. Next comes the fact that, having come upon it, it's not especially worth the reading! This falls into the excruciating category of collections in which everything good has been presented better elsewhere, and all the rest is for specialists who have some personal or professional reason for seeing good where it might not ordinarily be seen. "The Donkey" and "A Christmas Carol," are the only really strong short poems in the whole volume, and of course Lepanto and The Ballad of the White Horse are published separately. (Lepanto is a better poem than the scholarly apparatus surrounding it makes it out to be-- if you don't focus on its supposed historical significance and look at it as an intensely vibrant picture, it does its job well.) The only reason this book gets two stars instead of one is that The Ballad of the White Horse remains a triumph. Shiver-inducing good. Read that one.

[Lisa Hendrix - Simmons]

I love his Father Brown series. Though they are very outdated (ie & warning: using racial slang we wouldn't dream of using today) I love Fr. Brown and his adventures with his one time but now friend for life Flambeau. They are quick short stories good for reading at night.

[Marlies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanted to like it....unreadable to me.

[Jake McAtee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some favorites:

— The Mystery
— A Second Childhood
— To A Modern Poet
— The Hunting of the Dragon
— The Red Sea
— Fantasia