The Wanderer sequence   poetry  
Alternative title: The Wanderer : 1902-; III : The Wanderer : 1902-
Issue Details: First known date: 1958... 1958 The Wanderer
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Notes

  • Epigraph: Quoniam cor secretum concupivi / factus sum vagus inter stellas huius revelationis: /Atque annus peregrinationis meae /quasi annus ventorum invisibilium.
  • Poems indexed individually; many poems in the sequence have been individually published.

Includes

The Wanderer : 1902- : 91 i "How old is my heart, how old, how old is my heart,", Christopher Brennan , 1927 single work poetry
— Appears in: An Australasian Anthology : Australian and New Zealand Poems 1927; (p. 178-179) A Girdle of Song : By Poets of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Eire, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Rhodesia 1944; (p. 17-18) An Australasian Anthology : Australian and New Zealand Poems 1946; (p. 178-179) An Anthology of Australian Verse 1952; (p. 28-29) A Book of Australian Verse 1956; (p. 32) The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 159)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 98 'O Desolate Eves Along the Way, How Oft' i "O Desolate eves along the way, how oft", Christopher Brennan , 1927 single work poetry
— Appears in: An Australasian Anthology : Australian and New Zealand Poems 1927; (p. 179-180) Modern Poetry 1939; (p. 245-246) A Girdle of Song : By Poets of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Eire, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Rhodesia 1944; (p. 18-19) An Australasian Anthology : Australian and New Zealand Poems 1946; (p. 179-180) An Anthology of Australian Verse 1952; (p. 31) Freedom on the Wallaby : Poems of the Australian People 1953; (p. 110)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 89 i "O tame heart, and why are you weary and cannot rest?", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 158) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 180) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 100) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 9-10) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 86) Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse 1984; (p. 53)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 90 i "Once I could sit by the fire hourlong when the dripping eaves", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 158) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 181) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 100) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 10) The Collins Book of Australian Poetry 1981; (p. 91) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 86-87)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 92 i "I sorrow for youth - ah, not for its wildness (would that were dead!)", Christopher Brennan , 1915 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 21 January vol. 36 no. 1823 1915; (p. 2) The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 159) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 183) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 101) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 11) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 87-88)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 93 i "You, at whose table I have sat, some distant eve", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 160) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 185) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 102) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 11) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 88-89) Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse 1984; (p. 55)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 94 I Cry to You i "I cry to you as I pass your windows in the dusk;", Christopher Brennan , 1952 single work poetry
— Appears in: An Anthology of Australian Verse 1952; (p. 33) The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 161) From the Ballads to Brennan 1964; (p. 209-210) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 186) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 103) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 12)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 95 i "Come out, come out, ye souls that serve, why will ye die?", Christopher Brennan , 1911 single work poetry
— Appears in: Lilley's Magazine , 1 June vol. 1 no. 1 1911; (p. 15) The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 162) From the Ballads to Brennan 1964; (p. 210) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 187) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 104) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 12-13)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 96 i "Dawns of the world, how I have known you all,", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 163) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 188) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 105) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 13) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 91) Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse 1984; (p. 56-57)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 97 i "What is there with you and me, that I may not forget", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 163) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 189) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 105) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 13-14) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 91) Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse 1984; (p. 57)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 86 i "When window-lamps had dwindled, then I rose", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 156) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 177) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 98) Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum 1976; (p. 95-100) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 8) The Collins Book of Australian Poetry 1981; (p. 90)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 88 i "I am driven everywhere from a clinging home,", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 157) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 179) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 99) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 9) Christopher Brennan 1984; (p. 85-86) Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse 1984; (p. 53)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 99 i "The land I came thro' last was dumb with night,", Christopher Brennan , 1915 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 21 January vol. 36 no. 1823 1915; (p. 2) Poetry in Australia 1923 1923; (p. 39) The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 165) From the Ballads to Brennan 1964; (p. 211-212) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 191) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 107)
The Wanderer : 1902- : 87 i "Each day I see the long ships coming into port", Christopher Brennan , 1960 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Verse of Christopher Brennan 1960; (p. 157) Australian Kaleidoscope 1968; (p. 197) Poems [1913] 1972; (p. 178) Selected Poems 1973; (p. 99) The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry 1980; (p. 9) The Collins Book of Australian Poetry 1981; (p. 90-91)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Book of Australian Verse John Thompson (editor), Kenneth Slessor (editor), R. G. Howarth (editor), Harmondsworth : Penguin , 1958 Z1013022 1958 anthology poetry Harmondsworth : Penguin , 1958 pg. 27-34
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Verse of Christopher Brennan Christopher Brennan , A. R. Chisholm (editor), John Joseph Quinn (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1960 Z443320 1960 collected work poetry Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1960 pg. 156-165
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , Sydney : G. B. Philip , 1913 Z1014667 1913 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units)

    This work comprises three major sections: 'Towards the Source', 1894-1897; 'The Forest of the Night', 1898-1902; 'The Wanderer', 1902, and two concluding segments, 'Pauca Mea' and 'Epilogues' (Oxford Companion to Australian Literature ).

    Brennan's own descriptionof the work was ' a sublimation of a whole imaginitive life and experience into a subtly ordered series of poems, where each piece has, of course, its individual value, and yet cannot be interpreted save in its relation to the whole' (The Prose of Chritopher Brennan, ed. A. R. Chisolm.)

         Sydney : Sydney University Press , 1972     pg. 175-191
    Note: Pages hand-numbered in pencil.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Book of Australian Verse Harry Payne Heseltine (editor), Ringwood Harmondsworth : Penguin , 1972 Z334403 1972 anthology poetry Selection of works by Australian poets from Charles Harpur (1813-1868) to Charles Buckmaster (b. 1951). Ringwood Harmondsworth : Penguin , 1972 pg. 106-114
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Selected Poems Christopher Brennan , G. A. Wilkes (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1973 Z438497 1973 selected work poetry Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1973 pg. 98-107
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Selected Poems Christopher Brennan , G. A. Wilkes (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1973 Z438497 1973 selected work poetry Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1973 pg. 98-107
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry Chris Wallace-Crabbe (editor), Carlton : Melbourne University Press , 1980 Z62463 1980 anthology poetry

    'A collection of the best poetry of the twentieth century; Hope - Wright - Slessor - Webb - Harwood - Murray.' (Publication summary)

         Carlton : Melbourne University Press , 1980     pg. 8-15
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Christopher Brennan Christopher Brennan , Terry Sturm (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1984 Z406454 1984 selected work poetry criticism biography correspondence prose St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1984 pg. 84-93
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse John Barnes (editor), Brian McFarlane (editor), Richmond : Heinemann , 1984 Z900285 1984 anthology poetry (taught in 1 units) Richmond : Heinemann , 1984 pg. 52-58
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse John Barnes (editor), Brian McFarlane (editor), Richmond : Heinemann , 1984 Z900285 1984 anthology poetry (taught in 1 units) Richmond : Heinemann Education Australia , 1988 pg. 52-58
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Poetry in the Twentieth Century Robert Gray (editor), Geoffrey Lehmann (editor), Port Melbourne : Heinemann , 1991 Z27032 1991 anthology poetry Port Melbourne : Heinemann , 1991 pg. 5-11
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Poems [1913] C. J. Brennan , Sydney : G. B. Philip , 1913 Z1014667 1913 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units)

    This work comprises three major sections: 'Towards the Source', 1894-1897; 'The Forest of the Night', 1898-1902; 'The Wanderer', 1902, and two concluding segments, 'Pauca Mea' and 'Epilogues' (Oxford Companion to Australian Literature ).

    Brennan's own descriptionof the work was ' a sublimation of a whole imaginitive life and experience into a subtly ordered series of poems, where each piece has, of course, its individual value, and yet cannot be interpreted save in its relation to the whole' (The Prose of Chritopher Brennan, ed. A. R. Chisolm.)

         Pymble : Angus and Robertson , 1992     pg. 139-155
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

F.C.S. Schiller and Brennan's the Burden of Tyre Michael Buhagiar , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 71 no. 3 2011; (p. 116-129) 'Christopher Brennan composed the bulk of his fifteen-poem sequence The Burden of Tyre between August 1900 and May 1901, but it remained unpublished until Harry Chaplin's private edition of 1953. Prompted by the Boer war, which Brennan vehemently opposed, and dealing with it as an expression of philosophical principles, he had initially hoped to "sneak it in" to Poems 1913, to lie between The Forest of Night and The Wanderer. This indicates the weight it clearly carries, which is of a different order to that of the noisier and slighter The Chant of Doom (1916), Brennan's response to the First World War. G.A. Wilkes observed that on publication "It seems at once to have proved itself as inscrutable as the rest of Brennan's work". Yet only Wilkes and Mary Merewether have provided extended treatments of it, and much of it remains obscure. A close reading of his sources can solve some of the most seemingly intractable problems of Brennan scholarship, and Merewether's paper in particular is an invaluable resource in this regard. Yet she has missed the principle source of the Prologue, namely F.C.S. Schiller, whose philosophical work The Riddles of the Sphinx deeply influenced Brennan at this time; and so this most important poem of the sequence, as an overture announcing its chief themes and concerns, remains poorly understood. Wilkes felt that "[It] certainly is political poetry, but only intermittently is it anything more"; and Merewether that "The reading of The Burden of Tyre ... shows there to be few new ideas in it". The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough exegesis of the Prologue in the light of The Riddles of the Sphinx, and to show that there are indeed new ideas in it, and ideas, moreover, which can throw light into some important aspects of Poems 1913, and into Brennan's response to one of his chief influences at the time.
The Alpha and Omega of Brennan's The Wanderer Michael Buhagiar , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011; 'The influence of Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra on Christopher Brennan's poem The Wanderer has been underestimated. It is especially apparent in the epigraph, and the poems (86 and 99) which open and close the sequence. The inner quest described in The Wanderer is generally held to have been a failure, but a revaluation in the light of the Nietzschean influence, incorporating a recension of the crucial poem 99, reveals a different story. The annular nature of the quest as described in the epigraph derives from Nietzsche's notion of Eternal Return , on which he confessed Zarathustra to be founded. Themes from Zarathustra dominate poem 86, and recur in poem 99. The line in the latter 'no ending of the way, no home, no goal', which has been widely interpreted as a confession of failure of the quest, is demonstrated to have been sourced from Zarathustra, where it does not bear that inference at all, but rather of triumph over doubt. The pivotal word 'withhold' in poem 99 is shown to be used in its archaic and neutral sense of 'hold within', rather than its modern sense of 'refuse to give up'. The Wanderer's quest is a success to approximately the same degree as that of Nietzsche's hero. Such clarity as to Brennan's achievement is essential if he is to attain the global reputation which many would argue he deserves.' (Author's abstract)
A Neurotic Reading of C. J. Brennan's 'The Wanderer' John Kinsella , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Long Paddock , no. 3 2008;

The three neuroses the author sees as being pivotal to Brennan's 'Wanderer' are: 1. of fear of the dentata and the sexually "unresponsive" female and female-self; 2. of place and identification; 3. a neurosis of spiritual conviction.
The Escaping Word Chris Wallace-Crabbe , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Read It Again 2005; (p. 33-43)
The Wanderer and the Flâneur : Christopher Brennan as Modernist Peter Kirkpatrick , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 2 2003; (p. 63-77) In this article Kirkpatrick aims to 'resubmit Brennan's credentials as a modernist'.
Brennan's 'Wanderer' - Some Remarks on Scansion Noel Macainsh , 1974 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 3 no. 3-4 1974; (p. 16-19)
The Wanderer and the Flâneur : Christopher Brennan as Modernist Peter Kirkpatrick , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 2 2003; (p. 63-77) In this article Kirkpatrick aims to 'resubmit Brennan's credentials as a modernist'.
The Escaping Word Chris Wallace-Crabbe , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Read It Again 2005; (p. 33-43)
A Neurotic Reading of C. J. Brennan's 'The Wanderer' John Kinsella , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Long Paddock , no. 3 2008;

The three neuroses the author sees as being pivotal to Brennan's 'Wanderer' are: 1. of fear of the dentata and the sexually "unresponsive" female and female-self; 2. of place and identification; 3. a neurosis of spiritual conviction.
The Alpha and Omega of Brennan's The Wanderer Michael Buhagiar , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011; 'The influence of Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra on Christopher Brennan's poem The Wanderer has been underestimated. It is especially apparent in the epigraph, and the poems (86 and 99) which open and close the sequence. The inner quest described in The Wanderer is generally held to have been a failure, but a revaluation in the light of the Nietzschean influence, incorporating a recension of the crucial poem 99, reveals a different story. The annular nature of the quest as described in the epigraph derives from Nietzsche's notion of Eternal Return , on which he confessed Zarathustra to be founded. Themes from Zarathustra dominate poem 86, and recur in poem 99. The line in the latter 'no ending of the way, no home, no goal', which has been widely interpreted as a confession of failure of the quest, is demonstrated to have been sourced from Zarathustra, where it does not bear that inference at all, but rather of triumph over doubt. The pivotal word 'withhold' in poem 99 is shown to be used in its archaic and neutral sense of 'hold within', rather than its modern sense of 'refuse to give up'. The Wanderer's quest is a success to approximately the same degree as that of Nietzsche's hero. Such clarity as to Brennan's achievement is essential if he is to attain the global reputation which many would argue he deserves.' (Author's abstract)
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