Australian Poetry - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 25
About This Presentation
Title:

Australian Poetry

Description:

And the shining tires might almost rust. While the spokes are turning slow. E. Banathy Year 11 ... Gone a-droving 'down the Cooper' where the Western drovers go; ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:1149
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 26
Provided by: evab
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Australian Poetry


1
Australian Poetry
  • The Noble Hero, the Savage Land and Mateship

2
The Early Poets
  • In the early European settlement years, the poets
    tended to concentrate on
  • the differences between Australia and their own
    homeland
  • Expressing their thoughts and feelings in the
    same language and form as the English classical
    poets
  • Describing rather than narrating
  • E.g. James Cuthbertson(1851- 1910) Australian
    Sunrise

3
James Cuthbertson The Australian Sunrise
  •   The Morning Star paled slowly, the Cross hung
    low to the sea, And down the shadowy reaches the
    tide came swirling free, The lustrous purple
    blackness of the soft Australian night, Waned in
    the gray awakening that heralded the light
    Still in the dying darkness, still in the forest
    dim The pearly dew of the dawning clung to each
    giant limb, Till the sun came up from ocean, red
    with the cold sea mist, And smote on the
    limestone ridges, and the shining tree-tops
    kissed Then the fiery Scorpion vanished, the
    magpie's note was heard, And the wind in the
    she-oak wavered, and the honeysuckles stirred,
    The airy golden vapour rose from the river
    breast, The kingfisher came darting out of his
    crannied nest, And the bulrushes and reed-beds
    put off their sallow gray And burnt with cloudy
    crimson at dawning of the day. James Lister
    Cuthbertson

4
James Cuthbertson
  • Wattle and Myrtle
  •   Gold of the tangled wilderness of wattle,
       Break in the lone green hollows of the hills,
    Flame on the iron headlands of the ocean,
       Gleam on the margin of the hurrying rills.
    Come with thy saffron diadem and scatter
       Odours of Araby that haunt the air, Queen of
    our woodland, rival of the roses,    Spring in
    the yellow tresses of thy hair.
  • ( When we come to look at the poetry note the
    language differences between Cuthbertson and
    Paterson/Lawson even though they were
    contemporaries)

5
The Colonial Poets
  • As time moved on, a number of the poets began to
    write narratives, story telling poems and ballads
    telling of the unique features of Australia. The
    descriptive and expressive language changed to
    reflect the simplicity of Australian life.
  • Two of these poets, Banjo Paterson(1864-1941) and
    Henry Lawson( 1867-1922) saw Australia and its
    pioneers from different points of view
  • Those points of view were shaped by their own
    upbringing, environment and temperaments and were
    expressed in their battles in the pages of The
    Bulletin magazine
  • The Discourses of The Noble Hero, Mateship and
    The Savage Land were discourses which they used
    to explore the relationships of the Land and its
    people

6
Lawsons Roaring Days as envisioned by Pro Hart
Henry Lawson wrote of The savage land The
struggles of the working class The hardships of
the city and bush The disappearing comrades The
past glories and what might have been Mateship
  • .

7
Lawsons short stories
  • Henry Lawson is also known for his short stories
    the most famous being The Loaded Dog
  • His short stories are snapshots of Australian
    life at the time, with the focus on the
    characters of the outback, outback life and bush
    humour. Within the stories is a sense of pathos
    and nostalgia for a simpler life. The stories
    delighted the readership of the time and are just
    as effective today in painting pictures of turn
    of the century Australian life in the bush.

8
Paterson wrote of the nobler side of life in the
bush
  • The noble hero
  • The Larrikin
  • The beauty of
  • the bush
  • The ugliness of
  • the city
  • Mateship at its
  • finest
  • The heroic idea of
  • Australia at the turn
  • Of the century

9
City v. Bush
  • One common aspect in the work of both poets was
    their loathing for the city life - Paterson saw
    the bush life as predominantly noble while
    Lawson was much more ambivalent he struggled
    with the harshness of bush life and at times
    privileged the discourse of the savage land.
    Both men, however, spent the major part of their
    lives in the city.
  • Poems such as Faces in the Street( Lawson) and
    Clancy of the Overflow ( Paterson) exemplify the
    division between bush and city life.

10
Faces in the Street
  • The human river dwindles when 'tis past the
    hour of eight,
  • Its waves go flowing faster in the fear of being
    late
  • But slowly drag the moments, whilst beneath the
    dust and heat
  • The city grinds the owners of the faces in the
    street Grinding body, grinding soul,
  • Yielding scarce enough to eat
  • Oh! I sorrow for the owners of the faces in the
    street.
  • Here Lawson is scathing of the effects of city
    life

11
Clancy of the Overflow
  • So, too, is Paterson
  • I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a
    stingy
  • Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between
    the houses tall,
  • And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty,
    dirty city
  • Through the open window floating, spreads its
    foulness over all
  • And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the
    fiendish rattle Of the tramways and the buses
    making hurry down the street,
  • And the language uninviting of the gutter
    children fighting,
  • Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless
    tramp of feet.

12
Images of Henry Lawson
  • Rare first edition paid for by his mother, Louisa

Death mask Hand of Lawson
Lawsons pen And manuscript
13
Images of Banjo Paterson
Manuscript for Walzing Matilda www.naa.gov.au/.../
treasures/treasures.html
14
To check for personal details remember
biographical material can come from a huge
variety of sources
  • The Reserve Bank http//www.rba.gov.au/CurrencyNot
    es/NotesInCirculation/bio_ab_banjo_paterson.html
  • http//www.abc.net.au/btn/australians/lawson.htm
  • www.nla.gov.au/.../ people/paterson.html
  • It is acknowledged that some of the material
  • in this presentation is taken from these
    websites

15
The Bush
  • What is it about 'the bush' that is so special to
    Australians?
  • For the best part of two centuries the bush has
    been analysed, criticised and romanticised. It
    has inspired poets, painters, filmmakers and
    television producers preoccupied the nation's
    politicians and fixated our social commentators.
    It has evoked both love and terror, and
    fascinated generations of Australians.
  • There is no doubt that the bush has an iconic
    status in Australian life and has featured
    strongly in any debate about national identity.
    Indeed, it has been revered as a source of
    national ideals by the likes of Henry Lawson and
    Banjo Paterson.

16
The Bush
  • How real is the bush myth?
  • Those who saw the bush as integral to Australian
    identity were very much urban-based. Lawson and
    Paterson were city dwellers, and so were the
    painters of the Heidelberg School - the likes of
    Tom Roberts and Fredrick McCubbin.
  • They defined the Australian landscape from afar
    and imposed meaning on it.
  • A homespun mythology
  • Lawson believed that an Australian identity must
    emanate from its own soil, not from the safe
    green fields of the mother country, Britain. He
    was not alone in this view.
  • Poets and novelists such as Banjo Paterson, Miles
    Franklin, EJ Brady and Barbara Baynton, among
    others, were inspired by the experiences of
    Australians living and working in the bush.
    Australian artists such as Tom Roberts, Charles
    Condor, Hans Heysen and Arthur Streeton began to
    paint Australian images and helped create the
    Australian bush legend.

17
Lawson Discourses
Paterson
The noble hero The Larrikin The beauty of the
bush The ugliness of the city Mateship at
its finest The heroic idea of Australia at
the turn Of the century
  • The savage land
  • The struggles of the working class
  • The hardships of the city and bush
  • The disappearing comrades
  • The past glories and what might have been
  • Mateship

18
THE TEAMS by Henry Lawson ( Identify the
discourse)
A cloud of dust on the long white road, And the
teams go creeping on Inch by inch with the weary
load And by the power of the greenhide goad
The distant goal is won . With eyes half-shut to
the blinding dust, And necks to the yokes bent
low, The beasts are pulling as bullocks must
And the shining tires might almost rust While
the spokes are turning slow.
19
THE TEAMS by Henry Lawson ( Identify the
discourse)
  • With face half-hid 'neath a broad-brimmed hat
  • That shades from the heat's white waves, And
    shouldered whip with its greenhide plait,
  • The driver plods with a gait like that
  • Of his weary, patient slaves..
  • And thus- with glimpses of home and rest-
  • Are the long, long journeys done
  • And thus tis a thankless life at the best!-
  • Is Distance fought in the mighty West
  • And the lonely battle won .

20
A bullock team
21
Clancy of the Overflow Paterson ( Identify the
Discourse)
  • In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of
    Clancy
  • Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the
    Western drovers go
  • As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides
    behind them singing,
  • For the drover's life has pleasures that the
    townsfolk never know.
  • And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their
    kindly voices greet him
  • In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its
    bars,
  • And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit
    plains extended,
  • And at night the wond'rous glory of the
    everlasting stars.

22
The Drover
23
Perceptions of the poetry of Paterson and Lawson
  • Do you agree/ disagree with these comments?
  • trite
  • doggerel
  • nostalgic and sentimental
  • magnificent images of life at the time
  • presenting images of a growing awareness of bush
  • the poetry of tortured souls
  • clear cut in their discourses
  • romanticised images
  • bleak, exaggerated images

24
Exercise
  • Select one of the Paterson or Lawson poems and
  • Identify the discourse(s)
  • Identify the invited reading
  • What are the techniques used to position the
    reader to accept both the discourse and the
    invited reading?
  • What do you think the response of the readership
    of the time would have been to the poem?
  • What does the poem reflect about the society for
    which was written?

25
Exercise
  • What comments can you make about the language of
    Lawson and Paterson?
  • How does their use of language differ from
    Cuthbertsons use of language?
  • Provide examples of effective language from each
    of the poets mentioned.
  • Identify why those examples are effective!
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com