Book Review: Iron John by Robert Bly

When I first took up this book a few years ago I had no real clue who Robert Bly was. I’d heard mentions of him in various articles related to the men’s movement, and also had some sense he was into literature, perhaps poems or short stories, kinda like an Ernest Hemingway except still alive. It wasn’t until I read further that I discovered he wrote over 36 books of poetry, responsible for translating a number of books of literature and poetry into English that would otherwise not be know by those in America, started the Minnesota Men’s Conference, leader of the Mythopoetic Mens Movement, and many achievements earned such as the prestigious awarded title Poet Laureate, The Robert Frost Medal, winner of The National Book Award for Poetry, and fellowships from Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and National Endowment for the Arts.

The few mentioned achievements above are but a drop of his life work and if I were write them all out they would fill an entire post themselves. Suffice to say, at 92 years old still living, Robert Bly is very well respected and has had an amazing career, as well as have effected so many males out there in need of guidance and direction.

Robert Bly’s Iron John is an amazing book that at its height spent 62 weeks on the New York Times best seller list (yes over a year). His book is based off of the Grimm Brothers fairy tail also named Iron John. This is a retelling of the classic story with insights about archetypes, how a young boy transitions into a man, and the pitfalls of the path. Bly talks about getting stuck along the way, the need for a young man to break free from his mother (not rejecting, but like a bird leaving its nest), and about how we need to sometimes get dirty and wallow in ashes to learn something about ourselves. read more