"THE TROUBADOUR AUSTRALIAN."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 924, 17 September 1910, Page 9

"THE TROUBADOUR AUSTRALIAN."

Tho • reviewer to - whom the ; London ;/ : ; ; '."Morning :Post ! ';entrusted', tho new,edi--\tion of. Brady's "Ways of Many Wat- ;■ / i, Jers'' took the book % as /the • text; for' a. : little essay on Australian literature. ■Ifr.'lt is in so many particulars so uteful |: / and .suggestive, and in. so maiiy otliera V %:supremely", ridionlous," that .it is worth; :'i-J/quotihg':^/;:: 1; • In' the world of letters \(ilie: feyiewfer: . wntes) Australia baa -produced abtm- ;: • dantly rather than greatly;'- There is ■.•;':i..iiO;!iustr!dian'; writer .outstanding ;;and: • eminent in literature. - Tlioro is as yet no Australian work which- can hope to- • survive thp test of, a century's lapse. V '~ From ; a .'new community, 'inheriting a , . ready-made civilisation,'neither,, great ,:/'/■ imaginative work nor great contempla- '. -tiyo. w;ork is' to lie/reasonably expccted. / The bustle of life-interferes with'-.con- - • tem'plation, the task of. subduing..the ;; wilderness ;ui ; Australia diet not " suggest ••••'• iiuch of romance. • The >cohvict era was 1 tragic, but also sordid. It. inspired'one ' t hovel/, era was ' -i adventurous, 'and, to an extent, ronuui- : ■ tic.;'" It' inspired- one/very,,'good/; 1 : / .The 1 mystery, of the; great'.plains,' 'where -; /- /'at'";<incetruthless';aiid;;allur- - ; in'g, might well give, prompting t<j a ' / really, great work.; But that work has ;' ,;'not'''yet"'.bee'ii''written, though/there, have been some faint premonitions of it in . the-work'of one or two minor poets and •/;•'; ■ Bhort-story:,writers.'. .There', has been ■ no /,;/.w'arj/no 'racialfstruggleiin/AaißtfaJia.; so. k / no history. • There ivaa an/ absence, also) of-such, segregated old-woild: cominum- , -; of '■ .•;-.- 1 -im.^i-pa.tlqu,;.-' ; -'the, : ;./ , 'S^rletiJ'-Ijetteri*' : of; ;;;/Hawthoriie, '/the; American. . Filially, ;; 'AustMiaicame.iiito/conscious.-.beiug'-til-most contemporaneously with the liews- - - paper arid the 'railroad.: Its.'litbrary luck ; •' was therefore not. gitod. ' ' ; In the. early prison settlement days ( a few men of literary ability found jtheir •/. way to .the Antipodes— ~; A . knowledge of letters has never' been, a ; ... guarantee of good conduct. But their accidental.presence did not,lead,to ail) great literary results. The new contin- ' ent wais .ro strange: to an ;ear]y acqiiain- ../''-. tance, -so repellent, aa.-ito ; discourago . observation; :What .letters, of the .period. | have .survived show little„or/no' attempt , .to -study, tho;natiyes, ;the 'natural coiiditidnsj,: the , interesting' evolution .of 'a . penal "settlement.into.-a strong nation.' "llow on earth do you people ./ amuse yourselves in Australia,?'' Surely' you get. tired of picking'one :anbtlier's / , pockotS? Do- you, 'by'' the wayi /grow ; : your own hemp ?" So wrote , Charles iamb facetiously, ,'to'v a - contemporary , /-.. friend in . Sydney. The quaint ' conceit: ,-. hinted at;a; trutL /Tnilyi thb iieiv; com- . munityi .cehtredats .thoughts! almost ex- / clusively; on rthe criminal land 'civil administration 'of-the colony, and jrieii of '• capacity, who. might;well have;amused ' .themselves as diansts of an absbrbiiigly . .. interesting . experiment : ."neglectt'd i that' . duty to posterity. . . ;.: ■ ; , Tho coM'ict era had - passed, when, not -./;, from personal- observation, but from' a " study of the : official: records)/'Marcus ;.Clarke,, wrote . ','For the Term of His : Natural Life.*' It had- a great vogue, ' ;, more, 1 think, from the novelty of the . subject than the .supreme .merit of the work, though the central idea was grandly tragic ill conception. Marcus Clarke .. .was,: a, fine writer,. but' he was not' - equipped to give a.true picture-of. the' ;. , convict ; life, for his : basis.- was. not . so much acknowledge off conditions as a study of records. Such: records repro"duce not' the page of ' life they deal with, but the stains.on that page. Sol many people hange<l,' so-many Hogged. ,'uo many imprisoned—these thev told of/ ... Bui they did. not, and could riot.' tell t-lie other and more pleasant side of the. story of the'people regenerated and re-, siornd. .to doront life. Yet that, the pleasant part, must have been -the

greater, for out of tlio convict life sprang a healthy, vigorous,' and most .law-abiding community..' That could not have been so if the general conditions woro those of the dismal tyranny and die insaiio cruelty pictured in "For tho Term of His Matural Life,". . : Essentially .a more real work was the classic of tiie buslirangiiig era, "jobbery Under Arms," written by. itolio Boldrewood, a police. 'magistrate who dealt with a time and conditions whichlmd been under- his personal observation'. '."Robbery Under Arms'' probably represents Australian prose.at its highest, as yet-'; but'it should be surpassed on(3 day "when a Henry Lawson, with a greater rango and - stayiiig l>ower, gives to' the world a novel of t-ho ' Australian bush. In-;tho 'short night or the sketch or. little, story Henry Lawson has contributed. to Australian _ letters some very good .work. .He has insight, sympathy,'.directness. -His work, -hasbeen compared with that of Gorky, and the. comparison ,is-somewhat suggestive,, though, '•usually comparisons; -between, authors of different' ■ nationalities . aro futile. Hoiiry Lawson, is a iiseful guiuo; but , he ; gives hints, not descriptions, little.'faint impressionist not pictures. - : 1..,' ' ' / ■ It. jvould. servo .no. .useful: purpose to attempt to catalogue; and -classify.- tho Australian novelists, short-story and .essayists, wlio; have -reached: some prpminence. I!ut Australian; poetry, because' of its significant hint ; as .to Australian character, is mo'ro. ; interest-, ing: u Tho ;higli ;rato of poetic production is the astonishing thins. This pre- : yalence'pf. the .poetic impulse aiid' of. some: eaf. fdr, the music of words shows a people developing; under their" sunny 'skies,'under ihappy.'social, conditions, a goncral';; light-liearteded,; spirit..- That some of tho verse writtenis } pessimistic in toil© does-not affeot the case; to any very marked .extent.; Yourcheerful lover often ; likes* to ,w a i' l moii-rnful 'cadence. .The Irishnian, is reallyi.tlio. most, merry' an'd; oheerful,'of,. the British types,, a-iid lie;, is , tlie . most lugubrious m liis Folk-songs. A nation, of singers; is a nation, "and; :that: Australia, can. claim ;to,-'be.'. ' - ; .y

: Australian poetry > may; be-,. said . to, likve teen officially inaugurated in 1823 by.Weritworth's./'Australasia," which came second, in .the;competition for the Chancellor' s J medals at' Cambridge. ■ University. ■: Not -until 1850, however, did •there como any; notable seconding 5 of ; that .effort. In that year IJarpur and ai,small, group tff ■ others; Were/writing jas.-'forerunners ■.toKAdam ; ;Lihdsay Gor-| 1 don, Kendall, and Bruriton Stephens, the,-.three, biggest names ,in Australian,, poetry'.7fThe' ; work of these fainiA liar to most/careful'students p,f letters. The' crowding swarms; of poetic minnows; who appeared. lator in the • stream of life'are'less "linqwn,;; and worthy of'study..-,: There ,could be cited quite ,0110 hundred names ol men who ■ have'wfitten; some notable 111 inor, verses, probably.. : one : thousand;;nanies■, of : men, -who have,put,into,print'pretty thoughts; in ;pretty measured-numbers;- - And-tho '•pppulatioh';.is''.Bnddr.-Tiy©'. , millions'.U/V:/i!'''.:!:, swaTining poets -of-' Australia do; riot' usually:produco poet' - )- }-hat is recog-; nisably.: Australian ; in /tone'.or in -subject: ■ * 1' Qnite'-dtbcmise/^Tbej'ipajdHtj: : of; them ''writesV-verses : ; ;,whi.ch -iii/ inost: ca^stmight- written ; in Lon-. doii; of-. Edinburgh'.'o'r; 'times! there is a..note. of .' Australian '.scenery^"rarely" isitbero. 'a; choioo' 1 of the Conditions of Australian life as themes. This-,, was the caso with the great, •as ; w ell .''as 'the.i lesser', lights,-of i; Australian; poetryV;,.-Gordon' .was: really; an English of ,:poetic :mind .writing.;,in ,Aus•tralia. • • Kendal, was a lesser: Tennyson, his. verso'a little coloured by Aus-;t'ra.li-ah; scenery.Bruhten;Stephehs gave his. big'work, '-'Convict. Oncej'' ; ;'Sn; Aiis-. tra-lian theme, but-it might easily havo :been written by. a man who had never. ccen Australia. ' Of the modern poets Patersori, who ;.is? reputed ito ;have; of f poems, is: almost alone in; tievoting ■himself to strictly , Australian;'Subjects| : -his -themes ideab almost, exclusively with the "horMy" llife- of vthe;: ;.To. l ' illustrate' the ■ themes of the - : : a justly-admired son- 1 net by Arthur Bayldon:— , N

:/: -i.MARLOWE.. - ■■~ v/ jWith;;Ea's.ternl ; banners; flaunting -in'.the ;: breeze,. •''•••' - '■'///// ;-/.'■ ■■■/■:'>•' Royal processions, sounding fife; and gong .'And..;showering 'jewels; on.;.the ,jostling' . throng;, '■ //-',.'/';/ March, ;to '.the/; tramp'.'of, : , Marlowe's - liar.monies. ./';/,/■'/;;''..V"-^v,/' ', rHe . drained; life's brimming goblet to the -lees ■;;... ■ v .He .recked.'not that a peer ''superb/and /'" strong"; /-// ./ /Would tuno .great notes to his impas- . sioried song ;'/,/■";-' v/,- .//'. / And; top/his: cannonading lines /with' ease. To .the .wild clasb of cymbals, we behold The./tragic; ending >,of.--, iiis'\ youthful - life. .The; revelry -of; kisses bought : with . gold ;, The, jest/and" jealous/rival; and the strife; A harlot '.weeping o'er *' a corpso scarce' V';:/:Coldi;/'.;, ' ; ;; : y/vV// ////V-//'::'; A;scullion; fleeing/with' a | bloody/knife. ■'; It .is; impressive, / Elizabethan .'/ in '. ■ its. 1 strength;, but- it owes nothing to Australia in theme 6r' ! treatm'ent. '. / '•■ ''

Air. Rodoric ; ,. Qumn,,. a very sweet singer, is a Celt 'happening to ''live in , Auistrdia;:-:-'';Mr.-;Hiigli'.M'Crafli-;wi6' , -lia's:. just produced, .an '. ambitioiis',; book 'of verse, is; as/purely /a 'Hellenist -as 'was' Keats; ;Miv. Bernard:.Q®owd-'.strikes a new;nofe;in contemjioraryi. verse,,but.it is . not. m, any. way a characteristically Aust'rktian'/note. , Mr./Heiiry tawson, whose prose is., the truest; work of current'. Australian literature, in .vejso''is' 'a ■' 'Dagdnet". 'setting Jiis .scenes' iii!' Australia. There is a "Bush" School of .'minor.'poetry, whoseVsingers, derive their inspiration; directly': from what is peculiar in : the conditions of.the country ■; butit. is smaller /in; numbers and, as a/rulo,..p6qr;iii skill. A '.consideration of its work flight' engage attention , at another time. , ■ .- •■: /

The facts, see'ni -to suggest 'that/the: Australian lifo." inspires :-tp . tho poetical t.emperameut,' without' generally-, sug-., gesting 'locai;,themos.:! The I Australian is often accused of a narrowness of . outlook, probably because .of'the determined exclusiveiiess of. his,. AVhite Australia policy. ; But,' clearly examined/ the i^stralian/mind is " liotprovincial and exclusive/ It is, as we/have lately seeii," : Imperially-, receptive. .;It is interested, m the.world'at'large,.: in the broaduniversal,currents' of thought'.-'' This shows, l>oth in, what. .the Auotralian reads and. ill what.lie.writes.. It is especially clear, . in, the . mass of /verse; .which-; conies from, .'his .troubadour' gaiety of/'character. /