WHY BUSH POETRY?
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:48 pm
WHY BUSH POETRY?
One of our leading writers once argued that “no one had been able to explain to him, with accompanying proof, where and when the terms bush poet and bush poetry came about”. He stated that “Gordon called his works galloping rhymes and Paterson and Lawson, Rhyming Ballads, but, he had never read where those early traditional poets were called bush poets or wrote bush poetry”
It’s a pity he hadn’t taken more notice of our literary history and the Bulletin
I failed to see where he was coming from, especially when he raised the same point on an American Cowboy Poetry Site.
The Poetical Works of Adam Lindsay Gordon were entitled ‘Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes’; not exactly ‘Galloping Rhymes’ as he stated.
Gordon was described by HM Green as the ‘first Australian poet to be read by the ordinary man….’ Elsewhere Gordon was described simply as ‘the poet of the Australian Bush’.
The Bulletin, Australia’s best known magazine, in its centenary souvenir edition in 1980 tells us that the first poetry appearing therein was in the form of ‘bits of verse by writers of the previous generation – Henry Kendall, Adam Lindsay Gordon – the beginnings of the bush ballad and lots of anonymous verse.’
The Bulletin continues ‘On March 26th, 1881, what is often taken to be the first bush ballad, Sam Holt, by Ironbark, appeared’. Another young man who come along at the same time was one known as ‘The Banjo’.
‘Bush’ is a traditional term, not contemporary, and was adopted by the A.B.P.A. at its inauguration in 1994. The associations aims were to revive the style of Paterson and Lawson and others with rhyming verse as opposed to the growing more contemporary versions dominating.
Not all the Australian poetry at the time was entirely written about the ‘Bush’, and you would not need reminding that the Banjo and Henry and many others of their ilk wrote equally about the bush and urban life.
Bush Poetry is not all ‘hobble-chains and camp-ware’, it is rhyming verse about Australia, Australians and the Australian way of life,
It appears to be a contemporary term and one adopted by the present A.B.P.A. and accompanied by a definition so as to clarify the style of poetry they wished to promote. I believe their idea was to continue the style of rhymed verse written by Paterson, Lawson and Co.
Some of the old die hard bushmen believe that bush poetry refers to subject matter and is about a bush way of life, where as Paterson, Lawson and Co. wrote about subjects on a much broader scale, which fits into the definition of the A.B.P.A.
Some in the Association feel that by adopting the term bush, they contradict the definition they adopted. The term bush, as in bush poetry, is not referring to subject matter written in the rhymed verse style, but more a term to cover all subject matters written in that particular style. Confusing I know. Basically most in the Association today write rhyming verse, though sadly not always with regular meter and rhyme, and their subject matter covers, bush topics, comical topics, urban topics and so on.
I guess it’s a catchy title and I know there are some who have quoted that as long as their butt faces the ground and they have some control over the running of the association it will stay that way. No skin off my nose, but it does cause some confusion at times. I know a lot of folk who have expressed that they didn't enter certain bush poetry written competitions because they thought that the subject matter had to have a bush theme. Therefore in entry forms it is important to define just what your written competition requires and what your particular definition of bush poetry is.
One of our leading writers once argued that “no one had been able to explain to him, with accompanying proof, where and when the terms bush poet and bush poetry came about”. He stated that “Gordon called his works galloping rhymes and Paterson and Lawson, Rhyming Ballads, but, he had never read where those early traditional poets were called bush poets or wrote bush poetry”
It’s a pity he hadn’t taken more notice of our literary history and the Bulletin
I failed to see where he was coming from, especially when he raised the same point on an American Cowboy Poetry Site.
The Poetical Works of Adam Lindsay Gordon were entitled ‘Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes’; not exactly ‘Galloping Rhymes’ as he stated.
Gordon was described by HM Green as the ‘first Australian poet to be read by the ordinary man….’ Elsewhere Gordon was described simply as ‘the poet of the Australian Bush’.
The Bulletin, Australia’s best known magazine, in its centenary souvenir edition in 1980 tells us that the first poetry appearing therein was in the form of ‘bits of verse by writers of the previous generation – Henry Kendall, Adam Lindsay Gordon – the beginnings of the bush ballad and lots of anonymous verse.’
The Bulletin continues ‘On March 26th, 1881, what is often taken to be the first bush ballad, Sam Holt, by Ironbark, appeared’. Another young man who come along at the same time was one known as ‘The Banjo’.
‘Bush’ is a traditional term, not contemporary, and was adopted by the A.B.P.A. at its inauguration in 1994. The associations aims were to revive the style of Paterson and Lawson and others with rhyming verse as opposed to the growing more contemporary versions dominating.
Not all the Australian poetry at the time was entirely written about the ‘Bush’, and you would not need reminding that the Banjo and Henry and many others of their ilk wrote equally about the bush and urban life.
Bush Poetry is not all ‘hobble-chains and camp-ware’, it is rhyming verse about Australia, Australians and the Australian way of life,
It appears to be a contemporary term and one adopted by the present A.B.P.A. and accompanied by a definition so as to clarify the style of poetry they wished to promote. I believe their idea was to continue the style of rhymed verse written by Paterson, Lawson and Co.
Some of the old die hard bushmen believe that bush poetry refers to subject matter and is about a bush way of life, where as Paterson, Lawson and Co. wrote about subjects on a much broader scale, which fits into the definition of the A.B.P.A.
Some in the Association feel that by adopting the term bush, they contradict the definition they adopted. The term bush, as in bush poetry, is not referring to subject matter written in the rhymed verse style, but more a term to cover all subject matters written in that particular style. Confusing I know. Basically most in the Association today write rhyming verse, though sadly not always with regular meter and rhyme, and their subject matter covers, bush topics, comical topics, urban topics and so on.
I guess it’s a catchy title and I know there are some who have quoted that as long as their butt faces the ground and they have some control over the running of the association it will stay that way. No skin off my nose, but it does cause some confusion at times. I know a lot of folk who have expressed that they didn't enter certain bush poetry written competitions because they thought that the subject matter had to have a bush theme. Therefore in entry forms it is important to define just what your written competition requires and what your particular definition of bush poetry is.
