The Rag and bone shop of the heart

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1. evanjrowleyFeb 2026
   If you enjoy longer poems, then you might like The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart (1992). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/162343.The_Rag_and_Bone_...
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2. evanjrowleyNov 2023
   This provided some great context for one of my favorite poetry books, The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (1992). I never understood that the title referred to an actual profession. When I tried to look it up several years ago, all I got was an explanation that it's meaning was figurative. That's one mystery solved.

     Those masterful images because complete
     Grew in pure mind, but out of what began?
     A mound of refuse or the sweeping of a street,
     Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
     Old iron, old bones, old rags, and that raving slut
     Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone,
     I must lie down where all the ladders start,
     In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
      
       - William Butler Yeats
         from The Circus Animals' Desertion
   

   [0] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/162343
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3. proxDec 2021
   Well said. A book on poetry I highly recommend is The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart. A beautiful anthology of many poets and poems geared towards men in all stages of life. Everyone should learn one poem by heart is my take away from the book.
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