Other People (poem)

"Other People"
by Chris Wallace-Crabbe
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
PublisherWe Took Their Orders and Are Dead : An Anti-War Anthology edited by Shirley Cass, Ros Cheney, David Malouf, and Michael Wilding, 1971
Publication date1971
Lines24

"Other People" (1971) is a poem by Australian poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe.[1]

It was originally published in We Took Their Orders and Are Dead : An Anti-War Anthology edited by Shirley Cass, Ros Cheney, David Malouf, and Michael Wilding, in 1971,[2] and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.[1]

Synopsis

A young man looks back at World War I and laments that four of his uncles were lost in that war. He wonders if anyone cares who the enemy was any more. "Their chalk was wiped clean off the slate,/The War meant nothing at all."

Critical reception

In his commentary on the poem in 60 Classic Australian Poems Geoff Page noted that , contrary to a lot of other war poems, "'Other People' over nearly 40 years has retained its force – and its charm. 'Charm' may seem a strange word in relation to a successful anti-war poem, but that is what the poem has – and in abundance.[3]

Publication history

After the poem's initial publication in We Took Their Orders and Are Dead : An Anti-War Anthology[2] it was reprinted as follows:

  • Twelve Poets, 1950-1970 edited by Alexander Craig, Jacaranda Press, 1971[4]
  • Where the Wind Came : Poems by Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Angus and Robertson, 1971[5]
  • Disenchantment edited by Owen Webster, Goldstar Publications, 1972[6]
  • Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, Rigby, 1976[7]
  • The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984[8]
  • Violence to Non-Violence : Individual Perspectives, Communal Voices : an Anthology edited by William Kelly, Harwood Academic/Craftsman House, 1994[9]
  • The Thing Itself and Other Poems by Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Picaro Press, 2007[10]
  • 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009[11]
  • The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard, Puncher & Wattmann, 2009[12]
  • New and Selected Poems by Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Carcanet, 2013[13]
  • This is Home : Essential Australian Poems for Children edited by Jackie French, National Library of Australia, 2019[14]

Notes

  • You can read the full text of the poem on the Poets Union webpage, "Poems About War".[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Austlit — "Other People" by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". Austlit. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  2. 1 2 "We Took Their Orders and Are Dead : An Anti-War Anthology edited by Shirley Cass, Ros Cheney, David Malouf, and Michael Wilding". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  3. ↑ 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009, p159. Accessed: 27 May 2026.
  4. ↑ "Twelve Poets, 1950-1970 edited by Alexander Craig". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  5. ↑ "Where the Wind Came : Poems by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "Disenchantment edited by Owen Webster". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  7. ↑ "Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "Violence to Non-Violence : Individual Perspectives, Communal Voices : an Anthology by". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "The Thing Itself and Other Poems by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  11. ↑ "60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "New and Selected Poems by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "This is Home : Essential Australian Poems for Children edited by Jackie French". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  15. ↑ ""Poems About War"". Poets Union Inc. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.