y separately published work icon The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar collected work   poetry  
Issue Details: First known date: 1971... 1971 The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar
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Contents

* Contents derived from the Adelaide, South Australia,:Rigby , 1971 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Dorothea Mackellar : A Memoir, Adrienne Matzenik , single work biography (p. [xi-xvi])
The Closed Doori"As we crossed Alcantara", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 3)
My Countryi"The love of field and coppice,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 4-5)
Colouri"The lovely things that I have watched unthinking,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 6)
Spring on the Plainsi"Spring has come to the plains", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 7)
The Grey Lake (Lake Eyre, SA)i"Far away to southward", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 7-8)
A Happy Ghosti"Do you think when death has touched my heart and left it lying", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 9)
Running Wateri"Under the bridge the water", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 10-11)
Settlersi"If the gods of Hellas do not tread our shaggy mountains -", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 12-13)
The Open Seai"From my window I can see,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 14-15)
Burning Offi"They're burning off at the Rampadells,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 16)
The Santa Mariai"Three green miles beneath the sea", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 17)
Vespersi"The roofs loom black after sunset, the sky in the rifts between,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 18)
Pilgrim Songi"My feet are grey with the roadside dust,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 18)
Culgai Paddocki"I know that the tawny grass of the plain", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 19)
When it Comesi"How should I like to die, to die?", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 19)
Sketch (Hyde Park, Sydney)i"From the little balcony, high above the street, I see", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 20-21)
Blue and Silveri"Here I lie on the windy hill,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 22)
Magici"Crawling up the hillside,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 23-24)
The Coorong Sandhills (South Australia)i"Over the Coorong sandhills only the wild duck fly,", Dorothea Mackellar , single work poetry (p. 24)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Adelaide, South Australia,: Rigby , 1971 .
      Extent: [xvi], 183p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Includes 'Publishing history of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar' (p. [iii]) and a biography by Adrienne Matzenik (see contents).
      • Comprises poems originally published in Mackellar's four volumes of poetry, The Closed Door, The Witch-Maid, Dreamharbour and Fancy Dress. The sections into which the book is divided bear those titles.
      ISBN: 0851792502

Works about this Work

The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent Anthony J. Hassall , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53)
'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
Untitled 1971 single work review
— Appears in: New Poetry , October 1971; (p. 40)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry
Sunburnt Nostalgia Adrian Mitchell , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 September 1971; (p. 30)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry
Living Myths and Modern Poets Thomas Shapcott , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , Spring [November] vol. 10 no. 1971; (p. 186-188)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry ; Selected Poems Roland Robinson , 1971 selected work poetry
Untitled Edward Kynaston , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Review (Melbourne) , 5 November 1971; (p. 103)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry
Living Myths and Modern Poets Thomas Shapcott , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , Spring [November] vol. 10 no. 1971; (p. 186)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry ; The Pen of Feathers : Poems David Rowbotham , 1971 selected work poetry
Untitled A. Mitchell , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 September 1971; (p. 30)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry
Untitled Edward Kynaston , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Review (Melbourne) , 5 November 1971; (p. 103)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry
Living Myths and Modern Poets Thomas Shapcott , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , Spring [November] vol. 10 no. 1971; (p. 186-188)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry ; Selected Poems Roland Robinson , 1971 selected work poetry
Sunburnt Nostalgia Adrian Mitchell , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 September 1971; (p. 30)

— Review of The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar Dorothea Mackellar , 1971 collected work poetry
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent Anthony J. Hassall , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53)
'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
Last amended 4 Jun 2010 15:17:51
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