Australian Poetry - A brief history

Barron Field - Australia -, First Fruits of Australian Poetry - 1819 - W. C. Wentworth - Charles Tompson - Wild Notes from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel - 1826 - Charles Harpur - Henry Kendall, - George Gordon McCrae - Adam Lindsay Gordon, - Bush Ballads - The Bulletin, - Henry Lawson - Andrew Barton Paterson (who wrote under the name Banjo Paterson) - Joseph Furphy - Louis Becke - Price Warung - J. F. Archibald - 1890's -James Burton Stephens -, George Essex Evans - Victor Daley (who used the pen name Creeve Roe) - Bernard O'Dowd - Francis Adams - Dame Mary Gilmore - Hugh McCrae - Christopher Brennan -  Shaw Neilson, - C. J. Dennis -
 

The development of poetry in Australia was as slow as that of fiction.  Poets used traditional, imported literary styles and forms, into which new themes, derived from a strange land and rough new society, were fitted. The earliest known poets, who wrote in the late 1700's, included the convict poet Michael Massey Robinson and the convict billiardist Francis McNamara (who used the pen name Frank the Poet). 

Barron Field brought out the first book of poetry ever published in Australia, First Fruits of Australian Poetry, in 1819. The first Australian-born writer to publish poetry was W. C. Wentworth. The first volume of poetry written by a native-born Australian was Charles Tompson's Wild Notes from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel. It was published in 1826. 

From the 1830's, distinctive poetic voices began to emerge. Charles Harpur was the country's leading poet. He wrote of the solitude and grandeur of a landscape that dwarfs its people. Henry Kendall, encouraged by Harpur's example, wrote lyrically about nature and its influence on human beings. George Gordon McCrae incorporated Aboriginal themes into his poetry. The English-born Adam Lindsay Gordon, with his Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes (1870), revitalized the traditional ballad form by infusing it with bush themes. 

Australian literature in the period from 1890 to 1919 was dominated by "the spirit of the nineties," a feeling of optimism about Australia's democratic potential and pride in Australia's distinctive society and national character. The weekly magazine The Bulletin, founded in Sydney in 1880, reflected this spirit and encouraged the development of a national literature by inviting its readers to contribute fiction and verse of Australian interest. Henry Lawson, Andrew Barton Paterson (who wrote under the name Banjo Paterson), Joseph Furphy, Louis Becke, and Price Warung were among the writers that The Bulletin discovered. J. F. Archibald helped found the magazine and edited it through the 1890's 

The bush ballad was the poetic form favoured by The Bulletin. The characteristic subjects developed from the early ballads about convict life, gold mining, bushranging, and campfire themes. Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson were the most popular bards. Paterson is generally believed to have written the words of "Waltzing Matilda," one of Australia's best-known songs. Lawson, who was better known for his short stories, wrote several ballads focusing on Australia as a nation and the struggles of its people. In a sequence of poems Paterson and Lawson debated the romantic and realistic views of bush life. Other Bulletin balladists included Barcroft Boake, E. J. Brady, Harry Morant, Will Ogilvie, and Will Lawson. 

Other poetry showed a widening diversity. Some lyric poets, like James Burton Stephens, George Essex Evans, and Victor Daley (who used the pen name Creeve Roe), were concerned with nationalistic and political themes. Bernard O'Dowd, in his collections The Bush (1912) and Alma Venus! (1921), and Francis Adams, in Songs of the Army of the Night (1888), wrote about the potential of Australian democracy. Other writers, such as Dame Mary Gilmore, were concerned with social issues and underprivileged groups. Poets such as Hugh McCrae, in Satyrs and Sunlight (1909), Christopher Brennan, in Poems 1913, and Shaw Neilson, in Heart of Spring (1919), wrote in styles that reflected the influence upon their work of European precedents. The poems in McCrae's Satyrs and Sunlight are set against the background of ancient Greece and medieval Europe. Brennan was influenced by the French symbolist poets Charles Baudelaire and Stephane Mallarme. The most popular poet of this period was C. J. Dennis, who wrote The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke (1915) and its sequel, The Moods of Ginger Mick (1916), using larrikin (hooligan) language. 

Modern poetry shows the influence of international literary movements. Kenneth Slessor wrote of an exotic world of pagan gods and rascals, using striking imagery as in the later works, "Five Visions of Captain Cook," "Five Bells," and "Beach Burial". R. D. Fitzgerald shared Slessor's interest in navigators and Australian history but blended this with his own concern about the nature of existence. Judith Wright also had a strong feeling for the land and Australia's past. Alec Derwent Hope wrote both sensitive lyrics and mocking satires; he used traditional poetic forms and, together with James McAuley, came to represent literary conservatism. 

In the 1940's, two poetry movements emerged in Adelaide: the Angry Penguins and the Jindyworobaks. Max Harris led the Angry Penguins, who wanted Australian poetry to become more innovative and international by using surrealism. The Jindyworobak movement, founded by Rex Ingamells, continued the spirit of literary nationalism inherited from the 1890's. Jindyworobak is an Aboriginal word that means to annex or to join. The name represents the commitment of the group to enrich Australian culture by fostering an understanding of local historical traditions. Jindyworobak poets, like Roland Robinson in Legend and Dreaming (1952) and Black-feller, White-feller (1958), used words and symbols from Aboriginal culture. 

In the 1950's and 1960's, distinct poetic strains developed in Sydney and in Melbourne. Melbourne verse expressed a solemn, ironic, concern for social and moral issues and, in the work of Vincent Buckley and Chris Wallace Crabb, an academic literariness. In Sydney, where Kenneth Slessor, R. D. Fitzgerald, and Douglas Steward were influential, a more relaxed, popular, and various style of poetry flourished. In the 1980's and 1990's, Francis Webb, from Sydney, produced intense, demanding, and often tortured poems, while in Melbourne Bruce Dawe wrote biting and often funny social and political satires. Other prominent poets from this period include Davis Campbell, John Blight, Gwen Harwood, Rosemary Dobson, Bruce Beaver, Les A. Murray, David Malouf, John Tranter, and Robert Gray.   

Reference