Cirrus@Austlit

Stevens' critical introduction describes the growth of Australian poetry. He traces it from the early days of European settlement - characterised by particular challenges to artistic culture -to a point where, by the turn of the twentieth century, Australia had become a 'vigorous, restless, democracy', with strong and distinctive new writings. He highlights three main periods : the early colonial period of works by W.C. Wentworth, Charles Harpur and Henry Parkes; the turbulent 'gold rush' years, of poets such as Kendall and Gordon; and the years after Kendall's death, in which Lawson and Paterson, among others, became widely loved for their realistic, enduring, and 'distinctively Australian' verse.