An Anthology of Australian Verse | Page 6

earliest verses were sent from Michael's office to Parkes, who
printed them in his paper `The Empire'. When Kendall left Grafton,


Michael gave him a letter of introduction to Stenhouse,
which
brought him in touch with the small literary group in Sydney; and his
first volume, "Poems and Songs", was published in Sydney in 1862. It
was not long before he recognised the extreme weakness
of most of
its contents, and did what he could to suppress the book. He sent
specimens of his best work to the London `Athenaeum', and wrote a
pathetic letter to the Editor, which was printed in the issue of 27th
September, 1862, together with some of the poems and a most kindly
comment. Kendall soon wrote again, sending more poems, and
received encouraging notices in `The Athenaeum' on 19th September,
1863, 27th February, 1864, and 17th February, 1866. These form
the
first favourable pronouncement upon Australian poetry
by an English
critical journal of importance. Their stimulating effect upon Kendall
was very great. From the indifference of the many and the carping
criticisms of some of the magnates here,
he had appealed to one of
the highest literary authorities in England, and received praise beyond
his wildest expectations.
Meanwhile the colony of Victoria, which began its independent career
in 1851, had been advancing even more rapidly than New South Wales.

`The Argus' newspaper had been in existence since 1846, and other
periodicals sprang up in Melbourne which gave further scope to letters.
`The Australasian' was established in 1854, and soon became the most
important literary journal in Australia. Adam Lindsay Gordon, who had
landed in Adelaide in the same year as Henry Kingsley -- 1853 --
published a little book of verse in 1864 at Mt. Gambier, S.A., and
began to contribute verses to a Melbourne sporting paper in 1866.
These were printed anonymously, and attracted some attention; but a
collection of his ballads -- "Sea Spray and Smoke Drift" -- brought very
little praise and no profit. Marcus Clarke came to Melbourne in 1864,
and soon afterwards began to write for `The Argus' and other papers.
About the same time the presence of R. H. Horne, the distinguished
author of "Orion", in Melbourne lent a lustre to that city,
which was
for the time the literary centre of Australia.
Horne corresponded with
Kendall, and contributed to a paper edited by Deniehy in Sydney --
`The Southern Cross' (1859-60). He was the presiding genius of the

literary gatherings
at Dwight's book-shop in Melbourne, and no doubt
exercised
a beneficial influence upon the writers around him.
In 1870, after a series of crushing disappointments, Gordon committed
suicide. His dramatic end awakened sympathy and gave an additional
interest to his writings. It was soon found that in the city and the bush
many of his spirited racing ballads were well known. The virile,
athletic tone of his verse, which taught
"How a man should uphold the sports of his land
And strike his best
with a strong right hand
And take his strokes in return" --
and the practical philosophy, summed up in the well-known quatrain --
"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone;
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own" --
appeal strongly to Australians. Gordon's work cannot be considered as
peculiarly Australian in character; but much of it is concerned with the
horse, and all of it is a-throb with the manly, reckless personality of the
writer. Horses and horse-racing are especially interesting to Australians,
the Swinburnian rush of Gordon's ballads charms their ear, and in many
respects he embodies their ideal of a man.
There are few Australians
who do not know some of his poems, even if they know no others, and
his influence upon subsequent writers has been very great.
Brunton Stephens, who came to Queensland in 1866, wrote there a long
poem called "Convict Once" which, when published in London in 1871,
gained high praise from competent critics, and gave the author an
academic reputation. A little book of humorous verses
issued in
Melbourne in 1873 almost immediately became popular, and a later
volume of "Miscellaneous Poems" (1880), containing some fine

patriotic utterances as well as many in lighter vein,
established him as
one of our chief singers.
The first important poem from New Zealand -- Domett's "Ranolf and
Amohia" -- was published in London in 1872. Domett spent thirty years
in New Zealand. He wrote a good deal of verse before leaving England
and after his return, but "Ranolf and Amohia" is the only poem
showing traces
of Australian influence. It is a miscellany in verse
rather than an epic, and contains some fine descriptions of New
Zealand scenery.
The death of Kendall in Sydney in 1882 closed what may be regarded
as the second literary period. He had published his finest work in
"Songs from the Mountains" (1880), and had the satisfaction of