The Muse of Australia
| "The Muse of Australia" | |
|---|---|
| by Henry Kendall | |
| First published in | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publication date | 28 August 1862 |
| Lines | 16 |
| Full text | |
 The Poems of Henry Kendall/The Muse of Australia at Wikisource | |
"The Muse of Australia" (1862) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Kendall.[1]
It was originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 28 August 1862[2] and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.[1]
Synopsis
In this poem Kendall outlines his desire to be a poet of Australia, and, in order to achieve that, he must seek the muse of the country. This muse has "a glorious face" and holds "the Harp of Australia". In her analysis of Kendall in Preoccupations in Australian Poetry Judith Wright comments that this "muse" is the same figure that "Charles Harpur had met in 'The Dream by the Fountain'; though Kendall laments that the Muse has not descended for him".[3]
Critical reception
In his chapter titled "Kendall's Sublime Melancholy", in Henry Kendall : The Muse of Australia edited by Russell McDougall, Peter Otto notes that "For a poem that seems at first to do little more than repeat such stock Romantic motifs in a colonial setting, what is surprising about 'The Muse of Australia' is just how persistently it emphasises irreconcilable division."[4]
Publication history
After the poem's initial publication in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1862[2] it was reprinted as follows:
- Poems of Henry Kendall by Henry Kendall, George Robertson, 1886[5]
- A Century of Australian Song edited by Douglas Sladen, Walter Scott Publishers, 1888[6]
- Selected Poems of Henry Kendall edited by T. Inglis Moore, Angus and Robertson, 1957[7]
- The Poetical Works of Henry Kendall edited by Thomas Thornton Reed, 1966[8]
- A Treasury of Colonial Poetry, Currawong, 1982[9]
- Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984[10]
- Henry Kendall: Poetry, Prose and Selected Correspondence edited by Michael Ackland, University of Queensland Press, 1993[11]
- An Australian Treasury of Popular Verse edited by Jim Haynes, ABC Books, 2002[12]
See also
References
- 1 2 "Austlit — "The Muse of Australia" by Henry Kendall". Austlit. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- 1 2 ""The Muse of Australia" by Henry Kendall". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 August 1862. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ Preoccupations in Australian Poetry by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1965, pp. 19–44. Accessed: 31 March 2026
- ↑ Henry Kendall : The Muse of Australia edited by Russell McDougall, University of New England, 1992. "Chapter 17: Kendall's Sublime Melancholy" by Peter Otto, pp. 418-443. Accessed: 31 March 2026
- ↑ "Poems of Henry Kendall by Henry Kendall". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "A Century of Australian Song edited by Douglas Sladen". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "Selected Poems of Henry Kendall edited by T. Inglis Moore". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "The Poetical Works of Henry Kendall edited by Thomas Thornton Reed". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "A Treasury of Colonial Poetry (Currawong)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "Henry Kendall: Poetry, Prose and Selected Correspondence edited by Michael Ackland". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ "An Australian Treasury of Popular Verse edited by Jim Haynes". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 March 2026.