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'It’s 1972 in Canberra. Michael Dransfield is being treated for a drug addiction; Paula Keogh is delusional and grief-stricken. They meet in a psychiatric unit of the Canberra Hospital and instantly fall in love.
'Paula recovers a self that she thought was lost; Michael, a radical poet, is caught up in a rush of creative energy and writes poems that become The Second Month of Spring. Together, they plan for ‘a wedding, marriage, kids – the whole trip’. But outside the hospital walls, madness, grief and drugs challenge their luminous dream. Can their love survive?
'The Green Bell is a lyrical and profoundly moving story about love and madness. It explores the ways that extreme experience can change us: expose our terrors and open us to ecstasy for the sake of a truer life, a reconciliation with who we are. Ultimately, the memoir reveals itself to be a hymn to life. A requiem for lost friends. A coming of age story that takes a lifetime.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
-
Madness and Poetry in 1960s Australia
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 10 September vol. 27 no. 18 2017; (p. 48-51)
— Review of The Green Bell : A Memoir of Love, Madness and Poetry 2017 single work autobiography'I was attracted to The Green Bell by the part that the poet Michael Dransfield has in it. He was a symbolic figure of the 1960s, representing the Dionysian and Bacchanal as against the ordered classical world of my studies and faith, with his raw and needlestrewn life and poetry and his photograph in a Franciscan cowl.' (Introduction)
-
Poet Lives Again in Fond Memoir
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 29 July 2017; (p. 20)'Big questions lie at the heart of The Green Bell. What is love? Madness? Poetry? Are there boundaries? The focus is on Paula Keogh’s intense relationship with poet Michael Dransfield when they meet in M Ward, the psychiatric ward of Canberra Community Hospital, in 1972.
Keogh was admitted after a breakdown following the death of her best friend Julianne, but with Dransfield’s arrival in M Ward their story takes flight. ‘‘His eyes are teasing’’ as he smiles at her. They bond with wordplay and poetry and find refuge nearby under the green bell of a willow by the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.' (Introduction)
-
Love Loss and Madness in the Green Bell
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Convesation , 17 March 2017; 'In a world where death can be a miscalculation, where fallen leaves can seem a kind shrapnel, in a world where two lovers can “have everything in common” including their drugs and their illnesses — in such a world how quickly one’s light can be spent.' (Introduction) -
Psych Ward
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 389 2017; (p. 52-53) ‘Since Michael Dransfield’s death at the age of twenty-four in 1973, there have been two books of poems, a Collected Poems (1987), a study of his generation, Parnassus Mad Ward (Livio Dobrez, 1990), as well as Michael Dransfield’s Lives: A sixties biography (Patricia Dobrez, 1999), and John Kinsella’s Michael Dransfield: A retrospective (2002). Unlike other poets who died too young, such as Charles Buckmaster (1951–72), Dransfield had cultivated an older, more established group of poets who ensured that his many poems would be issued posthumously.’ (Introduction) -
Poetry, Love and Psychosis : Can Writing Help Us Come to Terms with Mental Illness?
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 23 February 2017; 'In hospital in 1972, Paula Keogh fell in love with the poet Michael Dransfield. In her new memoir she captures the voice of her illness and the man she loved.'
-
Madness and Poetry in 1960s Australia
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 10 September vol. 27 no. 18 2017; (p. 48-51)
— Review of The Green Bell : A Memoir of Love, Madness and Poetry 2017 single work autobiography'I was attracted to The Green Bell by the part that the poet Michael Dransfield has in it. He was a symbolic figure of the 1960s, representing the Dionysian and Bacchanal as against the ordered classical world of my studies and faith, with his raw and needlestrewn life and poetry and his photograph in a Franciscan cowl.' (Introduction)
-
Poetry, Love and Psychosis : Can Writing Help Us Come to Terms with Mental Illness?
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 23 February 2017; 'In hospital in 1972, Paula Keogh fell in love with the poet Michael Dransfield. In her new memoir she captures the voice of her illness and the man she loved.' -
Psych Ward
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 389 2017; (p. 52-53) ‘Since Michael Dransfield’s death at the age of twenty-four in 1973, there have been two books of poems, a Collected Poems (1987), a study of his generation, Parnassus Mad Ward (Livio Dobrez, 1990), as well as Michael Dransfield’s Lives: A sixties biography (Patricia Dobrez, 1999), and John Kinsella’s Michael Dransfield: A retrospective (2002). Unlike other poets who died too young, such as Charles Buckmaster (1951–72), Dransfield had cultivated an older, more established group of poets who ensured that his many poems would be issued posthumously.’ (Introduction) -
Love Loss and Madness in the Green Bell
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Convesation , 17 March 2017; 'In a world where death can be a miscalculation, where fallen leaves can seem a kind shrapnel, in a world where two lovers can “have everything in common” including their drugs and their illnesses — in such a world how quickly one’s light can be spent.' (Introduction) -
Poet Lives Again in Fond Memoir
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 29 July 2017; (p. 20)'Big questions lie at the heart of The Green Bell. What is love? Madness? Poetry? Are there boundaries? The focus is on Paula Keogh’s intense relationship with poet Michael Dransfield when they meet in M Ward, the psychiatric ward of Canberra Community Hospital, in 1972.
Keogh was admitted after a breakdown following the death of her best friend Julianne, but with Dransfield’s arrival in M Ward their story takes flight. ‘‘His eyes are teasing’’ as he smiles at her. They bond with wordplay and poetry and find refuge nearby under the green bell of a willow by the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2018 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- 2018 longlisted The Stella Prize
- 2015 inaugural winner Affirm Press Mentorship Award as manuscript.
