A Vision of Ceremony explained
A Vision of Ceremony is a collection of poems by Australian writer James McAuley, published by Angus and Robertson in 1956.[1]
The collection contains 31 poems, most of which had been previously published in Australian literary publications such as The Bulletin, Hermes, Meanjin, Southerly and various original poetry anthologies.[2]
Contents
- "Invocation"
- "Black Swans : 1946-1955"
- "At Dawn"
- "Jesus"
- "To a Dead Bird of Paradise"
- "Mating Swans"
- "Tune for Swans"
- "Memorial (to Some residents of New Guinea)"
- "Sequence"
- "Canticle"
- "To the Holy Spirit"
- "Nativity"
- "An Art of Poetry"
- "Palm"
- "Prefiguration"
- "New Guinea"
- "Meditation (from Hugo von Hofmannsthal)"
- "The Royal Fireworks"
- "Prologue"
- "The Middle of Life (from Friedrich Holderlin)"
- "Vespers"
- "Late Winter"
- "Celebration of Divine Love"
- "To Any Poet"
- "A Leaf of Sage"
- "The Hero and the Hydra"
- "Prometheus : A Secular Masque"
- "The Death of Chiron"
- "The Ascent of Heracles"
- "The Tomb of Heracles"
- "A Letter to John Dryden"
Critical reception
Writing in The Bulletin a reviewer noted McAuley's "shrewd, nuggety plainness of style" and the poet being "more often digged than solemn."[3]
Ian Mair, in The Age, thought of the poet that the "irony and hard glitter that once he had have now gone" cloncluding that McAuley is best "when he is a romantic."[4]
Awards
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: A Vision of Ceremony by James McAuley. National Library of Australia. 22 November 2024.
- Web site: A Vision of Ceremony by James McAuley . Austlit. 24 November 2024.
- Web site: "James McAuley's Poems" . The Bulletin, 31 October 1956, p2. 24 November 2024.
- Web site: "James McAuley's New Poems" . The Age, 6 October 1956, p19. 24 November 2024. .
- Web site: Austlit — A Vision of Ceremony – Awards by James McAuley. Austlit. 22 November 2024.
