• Author:agent C. J. Brennan http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/brennan-christopher
First known date: ca. 1900 Issue Details: First known date: 1900... 1900 The Burden of Tyre : Fifteen Poems
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Notes

  • Conceived and for the most part written between September 1900 and May 1901, under the pressure of Brennan's intense disgust at Britain's (and Australia's) part in the South African War. For the sequence's publishing history see Shirley Walker, 'The Boer War', and Merewether, 'The Burden of Tyre',
  • Dedication: (to J. Le Gay Brereton)

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:Harry Chaplin , 1953 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
The Burden of Tyre : Prologue : Ii"If by decay from God (we ask'd)", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : The God : IIi"They said, For us the deeps were stirr'd", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : IIIi"The tyrant of the days and years,", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : IVi"Beyond the deeps what silence broke?", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : The Folk : Vi"It is the coming of the night:", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : VIi"They hunger? give them men to slay:", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : VIIi"- Not this, not this my word to you!", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : The Prophets : VIIIi"Because ye sicken of thought (if e'er", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : One Apart : IXi"Let them devour and be devour'd!", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : Xi"Ere quite the westward shadow fade", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : XIi"Why are these streets aflare! - Today", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : Wind and Wave : XIIi"Night: and I lean where the sea sings. -", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : XIIIi"The herded waves are drifting, dark", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : XIVi"When all the ways the worlds have trod", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry
The Burden of Tyre : Epilogue : XVi"O life, O radiance, love, delight,", Christopher Brennan , single work poetry

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

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.
The Boer War: Paterson, Abbott, Brennan, Miles Franklin and Morant Shirley Walker , 1985 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 12 no. 2 1985; (p. 207-222)
'The Burden of Tyre' and Brennan's 'Poems' (1913) Mary A. Merewether , 1970 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 30 no. 4 1970; (p. 267-284)
Christopher Brennan and the Idea of Eden A. R. Chisholm , 1967 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Winter vol. 26 no. 2 1967; (p. 153-160)
The Interpretation of the Burden of Tyre G. A. Wilkes , 1960 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , March vol. 19 no. 1 1960; (p. 71-77)

— Review of The Burden of Tyre : Fifteen Poems C. J. Brennan , 1900 sequence poetry
The Brennan Myth D. S. , 1953 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 30 December vol. 74 no. 3855 1953; (p. 35)

— Review of The Burden of Tyre : Fifteen Poems C. J. Brennan , 1900 sequence poetry
Untitled A. R. Chisholm , 1954 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 13 no. 2 1954; (p. 305-306)

— Review of The Burden of Tyre : Fifteen Poems C. J. Brennan , 1900 sequence poetry
The Interpretation of the Burden of Tyre G. A. Wilkes , 1960 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , March vol. 19 no. 1 1960; (p. 71-77)

— Review of The Burden of Tyre : Fifteen Poems C. J. Brennan , 1900 sequence poetry
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.
The Boer War: Paterson, Abbott, Brennan, Miles Franklin and Morant Shirley Walker , 1985 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 12 no. 2 1985; (p. 207-222)
Communication and the Exhaustion of a Style Robert D. FitzGerald , 1955 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 16 no. 1 1955; (p. 18-24) Of Places and Poetry 1976; (p. 248-258) Robert D. FitzGerald 1987; (p. 33-41)
'The Burden of Tyre' and Brennan's 'Poems' (1913) Mary A. Merewether , 1970 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 30 no. 4 1970; (p. 267-284)
Christopher Brennan and the Idea of Eden A. R. Chisholm , 1967 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Winter vol. 26 no. 2 1967; (p. 153-160)
Last amended 7 May 2010 12:34:58
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