The Merry Heart

The Merry Heart, first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1996, is a collection of writings by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. It consists of reminiscences, speeches, book reviews, parodies and essays written over a period from 1980 to 1995, the year of Davies' death. Davies had planned the volume before his death.

The Merry Heart touches on themes that were near to Davies' heart, and that ran through his work: reading, literature, magic, Canada and Canadian literature, and ghost stories.

The book opens with a quotation from the Book of Proverbs: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22).

The Merry Heart was followed in 1997 by a companion volume, Happy Alchemy.

Works by Robertson Davies
Novels
  • The Salterton Trilogy
    • Tempest-Tost
    • Leaven of Malice
    • A Mixture of Frailties
  • The Deptford Trilogy
    • Fifth Business
    • The Manticore
    • World of Wonders
  • The Cornish Trilogy
    • The Rebel Angels
    • What's Bred in the Bone
    • The Lyre of Orpheus
  • The "Toronto Trilogy"
    • Murther and Walking Spirits
    • The Cunning Man
Fictional essays
  • The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks
  • The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks
  • Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack
  • The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks
Critical essays
  • A Voice from the Attic
  • The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies
  • The Well-Tempered Critic
  • The Merry Heart
  • Happy Alchemy
Miscellaneous
  • Samuel Marchbanks
  • High Spirits
  • For Your Eye Alone
  • Discoveries

Famous quotes containing the words merry heart, merry and/or heart:

    “Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,
    And merrily hent the stile-a.
    A merry heart goes all the day,
    Your sad tires in a mile-a.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “In the merry month of May,
    Sitting in a pleasant shade,
    Which a grove of myrtles made,
    Beasts did leap, and birds did sing,
    Trees did grow, and plants did spring:
    Every thing did banish moan,
    Save the Nightingale alone.”
    —Richard Barnfield (1574–1629)

    “The Japanese do not fear God. They only fear bombs.”
    —Jerome Cady, U.S. screenwriter. Lewis Milestone. Yin Chu Ling, The Purple Heart (1944)