y separately published work icon Poems [1913] selected work   poetry  
Is part of Australian Literary Reprints series - publisher
  • Author:agent C. J. Brennan http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/brennan-christopher
Issue Details: First known date: 1913... 1913 Poems [1913]
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

This work comprises three major sections: 'Towards the Source', 1894-1897; 'The Forest of the Night', 1898-1902; 'The Wanderer', 1902, and two concluding segments, 'Pauca Mea' and 'Epilogues' (Oxford Companion to Australian Literature ).

Brennan's own descriptionof the work was ' a sublimation of a whole imaginitive life and experience into a subtly ordered series of poems, where each piece has, of course, its individual value, and yet cannot be interpreted save in its relation to the whole' (The Prose of Chritopher Brennan, ed. A. R. Chisolm.)

Notes

  • Also published as a sound recording
  • Numbers ascribed to the poems are those given in the table of contents in the first edition.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:G. B. Philip , 1913 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Be Contenti"The point of noon is past, outside: light is asleep;", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: G. B. Philip , 1913 .
      Extent: [Unpaged]p.
      Limited edition info: Limited, signed and numbered edition.Colophon states that this book was published in December 1914. Signed and numbered by the author.
      Note/s:
      • Oxford Companion to Australian Literature gives December 1914 as date of publication.
      • Table of Contents, author's note and list of subscribers at end of book.
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

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.'
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)
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.
C.J. Brennan's Femme Fatale : Representations of Female Sexuality in Poems Katrina Hansord , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 9 2009; 'This essay is intended to reappraise, from a feminist perspective, Christopher Brennan's 'Poems [1913]'. It will argue that through the key figure of Lilith, Brennan's representation of female sexuality and Motherhood disrupts the traditional representations of Lilith in mythology, reflecting changes in the defined roles of gender identity occurring in the late nineteenth century. By examining Brennan's representation of gender in relation to the historical context and to the broader theological concerns of the poetry, this essay will argue for the possibility that Brennan's poetry could be regarded as 'protofeminist'. The works of critical thinkers and theorists such as Julia Kristeva, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Mary Condren and Judith Wright are drawn on to form this argument.'
Hearths and Windows : Christopher Brennan's Interlude Poems and the Question of Modernism Katherine Barnes , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 68 no. 3 2008; (p. 39-55) In comparing it with Eliot's The Waste Land and other modernist texts, Barnes discusses the question of modernism in Brennan's work.
In the Guts of the Living S. E. Lee , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 33 no. 3 1973; (p. 335-345)
— Review of Tides Flow : Poems Marjorie Pizer , 1972 selected work poetry ; Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , 1913 selected work poetry ; Australian Poetry 1972 1972 anthology poetry ; For the Record : Poems Anne Elder , 1972 selected work poetry ; The Poems of Kenneth Mackenzie Kenneth Mackenzie , 1972 selected work poetry extract ; Preaching to the Converted Peter Porter , 1972 selected work poetry ; After Martial Peter Porter , 1972 selected work poetry
Untitled H. Winston Rhodes , 1974 single work review
— Appears in: Aumla , November no. 42 1974; (p. 233-234)
— Review of Hal Porter Mary Lord , 1974 single work criticism ; Patrick White Alan Lawson , 1974 single work bibliography ; Criticism Brian Kiernan , 1974 single work criticism ; The Hillyars and the Burtons : A Story of Two Families Henry Kingsley , 1863-1865 single work novel ; The Miner's Right : A Tale of the Australian Goldfields Rolf Boldrewood , 1880 single work novel ; Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , 1913 selected work poetry ; Martin Boyd Brenda Niall , 1974 single work criticism ; Recent Fiction R. G. Geering , 1974 single work criticism
Untitled A. R. Chisholm , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 February 1973; (p. 15)
— Review of Old Tales of a Young Country 1871 anthology short story prose ; Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , 1913 selected work poetry
Untitled 1915 single work review
— Appears in: The Bookfellow , 15 March 1915; (p. 54,56)
— Review of Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , 1913 selected work poetry
Some Books 1915 single work review
— Appears in: The Lone Hand , (n.s. vol.3 no.5) April vol. 16 no. 96 1915; (p. 334)
— Review of Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , 1913 selected work poetry
Introduction to the Penguin Book of Australian Verse Harry Payne Heseltine , 1972 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Penguin Book of Australian Verse 1972; (p. 27-53)

Explores the passage of Australian poetry from 1788 to the early 1970s, discussing why the anthology focuses on 'articulate, personal poetry', and is weighted toward the fruitful period after 1930. Highlights important themes and concerns of Australian poetry - the quest for an Antipodean Eden, the pursuit of Romantic idealism within a strongly secular culture, and the need to define an Australian vision and identity against English culture - and assesses the individual contributions of major poets.
Esotericism, Symbolism and Romanticism in Christopher Brennan's Poems Katherine Barnes , 2003 single work thesis
y separately published work icon The Higher Self in Christopher Brennan's 'Poems' : Esotericism, Romanticism, Symbolism Katherine Barnes , Leiden : Brill , 2006 Z1280955 2006 single work criticism
Hearths and Windows : Christopher Brennan's Interlude Poems and the Question of Modernism Katherine Barnes , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 68 no. 3 2008; (p. 39-55) In comparing it with Eliot's The Waste Land and other modernist texts, Barnes discusses the question of modernism in Brennan's work.
C.J. Brennan's Femme Fatale : Representations of Female Sexuality in Poems Katrina Hansord , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 9 2009; 'This essay is intended to reappraise, from a feminist perspective, Christopher Brennan's 'Poems [1913]'. It will argue that through the key figure of Lilith, Brennan's representation of female sexuality and Motherhood disrupts the traditional representations of Lilith in mythology, reflecting changes in the defined roles of gender identity occurring in the late nineteenth century. By examining Brennan's representation of gender in relation to the historical context and to the broader theological concerns of the poetry, this essay will argue for the possibility that Brennan's poetry could be regarded as 'protofeminist'. The works of critical thinkers and theorists such as Julia Kristeva, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Mary Condren and Judith Wright are drawn on to form this argument.'
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (48)
Last amended 24 Sep 2014 13:56:26
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