It Allows a Portrait in Line-Scan at Fifteen single work   poetry   "He retains a slight 'Martian' accent, from the years of single phrases."
  • Author:agent Les Murray http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/murray-les
Issue Details: First known date: 1994... 1994 It Allows a Portrait in Line-Scan at Fifteen
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Adelaide Review no. 124 Festival 1994 Z597549 1994 periodical issue 1994 pg. 37
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Quadrant vol. 38 no. 6 June 1994 Z649908 1994 periodical issue 1994 pg. 12
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Subhuman Redneck Poems Les Murray , Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 1996 Z175001 1996 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units)

    'In this collection of poems, farmers, fathers, poverty-stricken pioneers, and people blackened by the grist of the sugar mills are exposed to the blazing midday sun of Murray's linguistic powers. Richly inventive, tenderly perceptive, and fiercely honest, these poems surprise and bare the human in all of us.'  (Publication summary)

         Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 1996     pg. 49-50
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Out West : Australian Dirt John Dale (editor), Pymble : HarperCollins Australia , 1996 Z227816 1996 anthology short story poetry Pymble : HarperCollins Australia , 1996 pg. 108-110
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon New Selected Poems Les Murray , Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 1998 Z918005 1998 selected work poetry Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 1998 pg. 172-173
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon New Selected Poems Les Murray , Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 1998 Z918005 1998 selected work poetry New York (City) : Farrar Straus and Giroux , 2000 pg. 177-178
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon New Music : An Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry John Leonard (editor), Wollongong : Five Islands Press , 2001 Z823311 2001 anthology poetry (taught in 4 units) Wollongong : Five Islands Press , 2001 pg. 192-193
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Learning Human : New Selected Poems Les Murray , Manchester : Carcanet , 2001 Z1153302 2001 selected work poetry Manchester : Carcanet , 2001 pg. 135-136
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Fifty Fifty : Fifty Poems from Fifty Years of the Poetry Library 1953-2003 Charles Bainbridge (editor), London : South Bank Centre , 2003 Z1086386 2003 anthology poetry London : South Bank Centre , 2003 pg. 66
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Learning Human : Selected Poems of Les Murray Les Murray , Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 2003 Z1147830 2003 selected work poetry Potts Point : Duffy and Snellgrove , 2003 pg. 130-132
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Selected Poems Les Murray , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2007 Z1434567 2007 selected work poetry (taught in 2 units) 'Selected Poems ... comprises what Murray himself considers his most successfully realised poems, drawn from all his collections up to and including The Biplane Houses but not including his two verse novels.' (Publisher's blurb) Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2007 pg. 167
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry John Leonard (editor), Glebe : Puncher and Wattmann , 2009 Z1674214 2009 anthology poetry (taught in 16 units) Glebe : Puncher and Wattmann , 2009 pg. 158-159
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Poetry Since 1788 Geoffrey Lehmann (editor), Robert Gray (editor), Sydney : University of New South Wales Press , 2011 Z1803846 2011 anthology poetry (taught in 1 units) 'A good poem is one that the world can’t forget or is delighted to rediscover. This landmark anthology of Australian poetry, edited by two of Australia’s foremost poets, Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, contains such poems. It is the first of its kind for Australia and promises to become a classic. Included here are Australia’s major poets, and lesser-known but equally affecting ones, and all manifestations of Australian poetry since 1788, from concrete poems to prose poems, from the cerebral to the naïve, from the humorous to the confessional, and from formal to free verse. Translations of some striking Aboriginal song poems are one of the high points. Containing over 1000 poems from 170 Australian poets, as well as short critical biographies, this careful reevaluation of Australian poetry makes this a superb book that can be read and enjoyed over a lifetime.' (From the publisher's website.) Sydney : University of New South Wales Press , 2011 pg. 642-644
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Best 100 Poems of Les Murray Les Murray , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2012 Z1897512 2012 selected work poetry 'From his life’s work so far, spanning more than four decades, Les Murray has selected these 100 poems, his personal best. Including classics such as 'The Broad Bean Sermon', 'An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow' and 'The Dream of Wearing Shorts Forever', this elegant hardback is guaranteed to delight Murray fans and introduce new readers to his work. This is a wonderful gift, and a treasure trove of the best poems ever written in Australia.' (From the publisher's website.) Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2012 pg. 57-59
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Contemporary Australian Poetry Martin Langford (editor), Judith Beveridge (editor), Judy Johnson (editor), David Musgrave (editor), Glebe : Puncher and Wattmann , 2016 10524271 2016 anthology poetry

    'The quality of Australian poetry has never been higher, nor the number of distinctive voices greater. A landmark publication, this collection presents the astonishing achievements of Australian poetry during the last quarter of a century. Over ten years in preparation, gathering over 200 poets and 500 poems, it makes the case for this country's poetry as a broadening of the universal set for all English-speakers. 'Somewhat astonishingly,' the introduction notes, 'and while no-one was looking, Australian poetry has developed a momentum and a critical mass such that it has become one more luminous field in the English-speaking imagination. Increasingly, anyone who seeks to explore the perspectives or music available in English will also have to consider the perspectives and music which have originated here - Australia having turned itself, too, into a place in the mind.' Both survey and critical review, this anthology offers a rare opportunity to explore the major national achievement of contemporary Australian poetry. (Publication summary)'

         Glebe : Puncher and Wattmann , 2016
Alternative title: Es erlaubt ein Portrait in Zeilenskandierung mit funfzehn
First line of verse: "Er behalt aus der Zeit der einzelnen Wendungen einen leichten 'Marsmenschen-Akzent' bei."
Language: German
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

‘Nearly All Deep Fertile Soil’ : Les Murray, His Son and Autism Amanda Tink , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 37 no. 1 2022;

'‘It Allows a Portrait in Line Scan at Fifteen’ is one of Les Murray’s most well-known poems. It was written in 1993, first published in 1994, and featured in his 1996 book Subhuman Redneck Poems. The poem profiles, but does not name, Murray’s and his wife Valerie Murray’s second son (fourth child) Alexander, who, at three, was medically diagnosed as autistic. Both because the poem is Murray’s portrait of his son, and because it was Alexander’s autism diagnosis that prompted Murray’s full recognition of his own autism, this poem is also inherently as much about Murray as it is about Alexander. It explores not only their relationship as parent and child, but each of their relationships with autism, and how their shared autistic love of words, movies, and portraits deepens these relationships.' (Publication abstract)
‘Nearly All Deep Fertile Soil’ : Les Murray, His Son and Autism Amanda Tink , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 37 no. 1 2022;

'‘It Allows a Portrait in Line Scan at Fifteen’ is one of Les Murray’s most well-known poems. It was written in 1993, first published in 1994, and featured in his 1996 book Subhuman Redneck Poems. The poem profiles, but does not name, Murray’s and his wife Valerie Murray’s second son (fourth child) Alexander, who, at three, was medically diagnosed as autistic. Both because the poem is Murray’s portrait of his son, and because it was Alexander’s autism diagnosis that prompted Murray’s full recognition of his own autism, this poem is also inherently as much about Murray as it is about Alexander. It explores not only their relationship as parent and child, but each of their relationships with autism, and how their shared autistic love of words, movies, and portraits deepens these relationships.' (Publication abstract)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (1)
Last amended 5 Nov 2024 14:13:14
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