In 1858 Charles Harpur was drawn into an argument with Frank Fowler, the editor of the Month : A Literary and Critical Journal. J. Normington-Rawling in Charles Harpur, An Australian (Angus & Robertson, 1962): 226 writes that 'Harpur had allowed himself to be inveigled into the position of defending as poetry the writings of Henry Parkes. In doing so he chose to see the issue as one between colonists [Harpur] and immigrants [Fowler]...'
Harpur states in the column 'Mr. Fowler has come hither ... for the express purpose of founding for us natives a national literature, on a critical basis ; and ... I have thus put forth this particular piece [The Nevers of Poetry] ... as my contribution to the canonical foundation of it ...'
A version of Harpur's poem The Nevers of Poetry is published as part of the article. Four footnotes, all signed C. H., follow the poem and continue the argument.
