Cirrus@Austlit

This poem is clearly a spoof on the first canto of Byron's 'The Bride of Abydos', which begins with the line 'Know ye the land where the cyprus and myrtle'. The poem was first published in Melbourne Punch in October 1857, where it appeared without the author's name indicated - though presumably it was the work of a Melbourne Punch staffer, or perhaps a contributor. Soon afterwards it then appeared in a number of other colonial newspapers. The poem also appeared in the Queenslander, albeit at a somewhat later date, in 1870. Here it was attributed to an author named Ralph Brookes, supposedly of South Brisbane. Pending further investigation it remains unclear as to whether Brookes wrote the poem, or indeed whether 'Ralph Brookes' might have been a writing name.