Michael Buhagiar Michael Buhagiar i(A98568 works by)
Born: Established: 1954 ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Christopher Brennan and A.C. Swinburne Michael Buhagiar , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 73 no. 3 2013; (p. 169-188) In this essay, Michael Buhagiar broaches 'the subject of Swinburne's influence on Brennan's magnum opus Poems 1913, and [shows] how it can be used to solve some outstanding problems of its interpretation.'
1 Christopher Brennan's "What Gems Chill Glitter Yon": An Exegesis and Justification Michael Buhagiar , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 27 no. 2 2013; (p. 135-140)

'Buhagiar Poem 72 ("What Gems Chill Glitter Yon") of Christopher Brennan's magnum opus Poems 1913, a livre compose of 105 individual poems, has drawn especially virulent responses from certain critics of his alleged impenetrability. Brennan's poetry admittedly can be challenging in the extreme. This can be due, in the cases of some poems, to his adherence to the Symboliste principle that the reader should receive no help at all from content adjunct to the bare images and symbols themselves. Here, Buhagiar intends to use the symbols, correctly interpreted, of poem 72 as keys to unlocking its mystery and to show that the poem is a powerful instance of a momentous theme of Poems 1913, the clear appreciation of which can help elucidate the larger work.' (Publication abstract)
1 Untitled Michael Buhagiar , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 3 2012;
— Review of Apollo in George Street : The Life of David McKee Wright Michael Sharkey , 2012 single work biography
1 The Erotic Secret Heart of Christopher Brennan’s Poems 1913 Michael Buhagiar , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sydney Studies in English , no. 38 2012; (p. 111-131) 'The purpose of this paper is... to illuminate some important occulta of Brennan's life, as examined in his poetry in a typical artist's journey towards healing and wholeness.' (p. 111)
1 Resurrection and Apotheosis : The Greek Basis of Brennan's '1908' Michael Buhagiar , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Aumla , November no. 118 2012; (p. 1-16)
1 F.C.S. Schiller and Brennan's the Burden of Tyre Michael Buhagiar , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 71 no. 3 2011; (p. 116-129) 'Christopher Brennan composed the bulk of his fifteen-poem sequence The Burden of Tyre between August 1900 and May 1901, but it remained unpublished until Harry Chaplin's private edition of 1953. Prompted by the Boer war, which Brennan vehemently opposed, and dealing with it as an expression of philosophical principles, he had initially hoped to "sneak it in" to Poems 1913, to lie between The Forest of Night and The Wanderer. This indicates the weight it clearly carries, which is of a different order to that of the noisier and slighter The Chant of Doom (1916), Brennan's response to the First World War. G.A. Wilkes observed that on publication "It seems at once to have proved itself as inscrutable as the rest of Brennan's work". Yet only Wilkes and Mary Merewether have provided extended treatments of it, and much of it remains obscure. A close reading of his sources can solve some of the most seemingly intractable problems of Brennan scholarship, and Merewether's paper in particular is an invaluable resource in this regard. Yet she has missed the principle source of the Prologue, namely F.C.S. Schiller, whose philosophical work The Riddles of the Sphinx deeply influenced Brennan at this time; and so this most important poem of the sequence, as an overture announcing its chief themes and concerns, remains poorly understood. Wilkes felt that "[It] certainly is political poetry, but only intermittently is it anything more"; and Merewether that "The reading of The Burden of Tyre ... shows there to be few new ideas in it". The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough exegesis of the Prologue in the light of The Riddles of the Sphinx, and to show that there are indeed new ideas in it, and ideas, moreover, which can throw light into some important aspects of Poems 1913, and into Brennan's response to one of his chief influences at the time.
1 The Alpha and Omega of Brennan's The Wanderer Michael Buhagiar , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011; 'The influence of Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra on Christopher Brennan's poem The Wanderer has been underestimated. It is especially apparent in the epigraph, and the poems (86 and 99) which open and close the sequence. The inner quest described in The Wanderer is generally held to have been a failure, but a revaluation in the light of the Nietzschean influence, incorporating a recension of the crucial poem 99, reveals a different story. The annular nature of the quest as described in the epigraph derives from Nietzsche's notion of Eternal Return , on which he confessed Zarathustra to be founded. Themes from Zarathustra dominate poem 86, and recur in poem 99. The line in the latter 'no ending of the way, no home, no goal', which has been widely interpreted as a confession of failure of the quest, is demonstrated to have been sourced from Zarathustra, where it does not bear that inference at all, but rather of triumph over doubt. The pivotal word 'withhold' in poem 99 is shown to be used in its archaic and neutral sense of 'hold within', rather than its modern sense of 'refuse to give up'. The Wanderer's quest is a success to approximately the same degree as that of Nietzsche's hero. Such clarity as to Brennan's achievement is essential if he is to attain the global reputation which many would argue he deserves.' (Author's abstract)
1 Playwright of Many Parts Michael Buhagiar , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 49 2010; (p. 1-4)
— Review of Nick Enright : An Actor's Playwright 2008 anthology criticism biography
1 Francis Webb: Nessun Dorma Michael Buhagiar , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: Five Bells , Winter vol. 13 no. 3 2006; (p. 45)
1 A look i "Those eyes so black; that gaze so blank.", Michael Buhagiar , 2006 single work poetry
— Appears in: Sun and Sleet 2006; (p. 81)
1 The Ross Valley, near Kiama, 1999 i "A high new moon of mountains cradling", Michael Buhagiar , 2006 single work poetry
— Appears in: Sun and Sleet 2006; (p. 81)
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