What is poetry? Poetry is like a window. In the day, it offers you a connection to the outside world; in the night, a reflection of yourself.
Good morning, members of the Australia Council for the Arts. I am Cindy Ding, your guest speaker. Today, we will be exploring the breadth and depth and breadth of Australian poetry by delving into its role in celebrating and criticising the Australian bush. For centuries, Australian poets have drawn inspiration from our unique bush. The symbol of the bush has grown as Australian nationalism and search for identity have encouraged poets to interpret their woodlands through their art. Two such examples are Henry Kendall’s “Bell Birds” and Henry Lawson’s “Up the Country”. Through poetic devices, both poems
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address the natural events and the climate of the Australian bush. Whereas Kendall passionately celebrates the bush as safe and pleasant, Lawson criticises the bush’s romanticised ideals through its devastating drought and harsh climate. drought-devastated woodlands and the harsh climate to protest the bush’s romanticised ideals. The two poets reflect their experiences of Australia in their respective poems. Kendall constructed his bush during a period of growth. He felt driven by a nostalgia for the mountain creeks from his youth. In comparison, Lawson experienced the severe 1892 droughts. Lawson also grew up on the goldfields, a place known for corrupted foreign authoritiescorruption and harsh conditions. Hence, the two poets embodied embody the contradictions of the landscape. ‘Bell Birds’ by Kendall expresses admiration for the Australian bush. The poem illustrates the bush’s charm after a thunderstorm. For instance, the poem runs: “when rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together / [bell birds] start up like fairies that follow fair weather”. The simile to liken a native species to “fairies” – mystical and ethereal creatures – presents the bush as spiritual. In conjunction, the alliteration on the soft “f” creates images of light flight. Consequently, Kendall transforms the bush, even after harsh weather, into an oasis of life. Thus, he illustrates the Australian bush as a place of habitat and safety. Furthermore, Kendall describes the effect of rain and sunshine on the bush. In his woodlands, “dripping rocks gleam” and “leafy pools glisten”. A use of imagery, Kendall depicts the bush environment embellished by the climate as lustrous and, pure. Hence, the poem presents the bush to be in harmony with its environment. Overall, these expressions celebrate the bush, illustrating Kendall’s passion. Yet, perhaps surprising for we modern Australians, not everyone saw it this way. In comparison, Lawson’s “Up the Country’ portrays an Australian bush unlike the ideals, a viewpoint that has faded from national consciousness due to increasing wealth and comfortable livingcomfort. Lawson describes a bush in drought. For example, the poem connects the two images of: “miles and miles of thirsty gutters” and “strings of muddy water-holes”. The poet’s dictions of “gutters” – something associated withthe carriers of cumulated filth – and “strings”, which symbolise unruliness, create the imagery of a ruined landscape. In addition, Lawson remarks upon the alienation between the bush and its weather. On the bush tracks, there lies “granite gleaming, glaring like a molten mass”. The simile of “molten mass” portrays the bush as a brutal blandness. Specifically, the word “molten” implies the sun to be melting granite – one of the hardest rocks, suggesting the climate’s harshness. Also, the personification of granite “glaring”, due to the reflected sunlight, exemplifies this hostility. In effect, these devices communicate the bland and hostile environment of the bush. Therefore, Lawson contradicts to undermine the idyll in “Bell Birds”. Although both Kendall’s “Bell Birds” and Lawson’s “Up the Country” explore the Australian bush, they offer starkly contrasting views. Firstly, both poems depict an atmosphere after a natural event. Whereas Kendall celebrates the bush as a place of habitat and safety, Lawson criticises its damage. Secondly, both discuss the connection between the bush and its climate. Kendall describes a harmonious relationship; Lawson, a spiritless and hostile coexistence. Overall, the two poets reveal their Australian identity through the bush.
Kendall, fuelled by nostalgia, celebrates Australians as, like their bush, harmonious, resourceful and interdependent. resourceful and friendly – capable of interdependence. On the other hand, Lawson’s childhood on the harsh goldfields has led him to see the bush and by implication Australia herself as stoic, modest and independent. modest, enduring and independent.
Regardless of whether Kendall or Lawson’s perspective resonates with you the most, their contrasting beliefs reflect a bipolar Australian identity. Just these two poems can induce us to question: is there really an elusive quality, the ‘national identity’, which connects us all as Australians? Personally, I think not. Rather, Australians may be a combination of Kendall and Lawson’s perceptions: harmonious and stoic, resourceful and modest, interdependent and independent. Amid the multitudes of ethnic, cultural, class, religious and ideological backgrounds, the definition of our nation may be as varied as our imagination.
Hence, Australian poetry can provide valuable insights into our society’s varying perspectives: it offers us an understanding of each other and ourselves. Australian poetry opens the window to our
hearts.
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