The Poets of the Tomb explained

"The Poets of the Tomb"
Author:Henry Lawson
Written:1892
First:The Bulletin
Country:Australia
Language:English
Series:The Bulletin Debate
Publication Date:8 October 1892
Wikisource:The Poets of the Tomb

The Poets of the Tomb is a poem by Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 8 October 1892 in reply to fellow poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson's poem, In Answer to Various Bards.[1]

In Up The Country, Lawson had criticised "The City Bushman" such as Banjo Paterson who tended to romanticise bush life. Paterson, in turn, accused Lawson of representing bush life as nothing but doom and gloom,[2] famously ending with the line "For the bush will never suit you, and you'll never suit the bush." [3]

This exchange sparked what is known as the Bulletin Debate, mainly between Paterson and Lawson, but also including Edward Dyson and Francis Kenna.

This poem ended the first phase of the debate because, as Paterson observed in 1939, the poets "...ran out of material."

Reception

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature said of the poem that it "...widened the discussion to include the role of literature in reforming the total Australian society..."[4]

Further publications

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Austlit — "The Poets of the Tomb" by Henry Lawson . Austlit. 10 October 2023.
  2. http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/lawson/ Henry Lawson: Australian Writer
  3. [s:In Defense Of The Bush|Wikisource article - ''In Defence of the Bush'' by Banjo Paterson]
  4. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, 2nd edition, p131
  5. Web site: Austlit - Humorous Verses by Henry Lawson . Austlit. 10 October 2023.
  6. Web site: Freedom on the Wallaby (Pinchgut Press) . National Library of Australia. 10 October 2023.
  7. Web site: A Campfire Yarn : Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900 (Lansdowne) . National Library of Australia. 10 October 2023.