Australasian Poetry

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AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE, LETTERS AND LITERATURE Australian language, letters and literature in Australia has been influenced by Aboriginal storytelling, convict tales and the desire by colonists to relate their experiences in a new country. Some of those early works have remained part of the Australian ethos. Marcus Clarke's For the term of his natural life, for example, is still being published today, more than 100 years after it was written. Similarly, the bush ballads of Henry Lawson and Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson have become so ingrained in Australian history, that most Australians are word-perfect when singing Waltzing Matilda. C J Dennis's The Sentimental Bloke remains another favourite with its use of slang language. Letters Some famous writings include the Jerilderie Letter, which was dictated by Ned Kelly to Joe Byrne in February 1879. It is the only document providing a direct link to the Kelly Gang and the events with which they were associated. The letter articulates Kelly's pleas of innocence and desire for justice for both his family and the poor Irish selectors of Victoria's north-east. The Coranderrk Letter was written in 1882 by William Barak, an Aborigine living on Coranderrk Station. Barak wrote the letter protesting about the management and treatment of Aborigines. He and other Aboriginal Elders continued to petition, including a letter to Queen Victoria. Another famous petition was by the Yolngu people. In 1963, the Yolngu sent the Yirrkala Bark Petitions to the House of Representatives in protest against the Commonwealth's granting of mining rights to Nabalco over land excised from Arnhem Land reserve. The result was a parliamentary inquiry which recommended that compensation was owed to the Yolngu. In another vein, the letters of Judith Wright, published as With Love and Fury (2006) explore the complex relationships that fed the poet's creative life. The correspondence with Jack McKinney (later her husband) between 1945-46, coincides with the most fertile periods of her poetic career. Judith's correspondence with Queensland poet, Jack Blight 'constitute a running commentary on the Australian literary scene as well as what she was reading and thinking about poetry and writing in general' (Meredith McKinney, 2007). Gwen Harwood's letters published as A Steady Storm of Correspondence: Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood 1943-1995 (2001) are described as: Spirited and witty, warm, reflective, at times enraged, often overcome by laughter, the letters are so varied that this large volume can be read as one might read a novel or an autobiography. It would be a pity just to dip in at random: this is the story of the making of a poet. Poetry From the 1830s, distinctive early Australian poetic voices began to emerge. Charles Harpur was regarded as the country's leading poet. Harpur wrote of the solitude and grandeur of a landscape that dwarfs its people. Henry Kendall, encouraged by Harpur, was the first Australian poet to draw his inspiration from the life, landscape and traditions of Australian, 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), 'revitalised the traditional ballad form by infusing it with bush themes'. The names of early Australian poets and authors are well known today. Indeed they conjure images of a time of exploration, adventure and excitement, as well as a poignant reminder of the hardships of living in the newly formed colonies. Adam Lindsay Gordon, Dorothea MacKellar, Harry 'Breaker' Morant, Barcroft Boake, Henry Kendall and Henry Handel Richardson, chronicled the early settlement days in poetry and prose. Modern poets Modern Australian poets were influenced both by the 'literary nationalism' of the late 1890s which espoused Australian values as well as the contemporary modernist writings which challenged writers to use their imagination and be innovative in