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Contents
* Contents derived from the
Sydney,
New South Wales,:Edwards, Dunlop and Company
, 1887 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- The Black King's Skulli"One night, when round the walls with dismal shrieks", single work poetry (p. n.p.)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
A Bush Idyl
1889
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 6 April vol. 47 no. 1500 1889; (p. 696)
— Review of A Bush Idyl 1888 single work poetry '...the perusal of which affords a pleasing relief to the dull monotony of the unhappily accustomed versifier. Mr Mackay is already known as the author of "Stirrup Jingles" a collection of pieces which have a good deal of honest colour in them, although the lesson set by Adam Lindsay Gordon is rather too closely followed. But in this "Bush Idyl" Mr Mackay has given us a characteristically Australian poem. It is virile and healthy in its tone, its colour is true and treatment of its happily chosen subject highly artistic. It is not often we get such manly and heartfelt work from an Australian writer and though there is no straining after effect here, the result is clear and strongly defined...The worst that can be said in the way of criticism about this is, perhaps, that it reads too much like prose broken up into metrical lines...' -
Stirrup Jingles
1887
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 22 October 1887; (p. 864)
— Review of Stirrup Jingles from the Bush and the Turf : and other rhymes 1887 selected work poetry 'It is not too much to say, after reading Mr Mackay's rhymes of bush and turf, that we have one who gives promise of being rightly called a "poet-rider". Mr Mackay is well known upon the turf as a good unprofessional rider... He has the real poetic touch as well. His verses are just what they profess to be - bits of music and incident born of the life which they seek to portray...He frankly acknowledges having been saturated with Gordon's singing, and with perhaps having unconsciously fashioned his lines after his brilliant prototype. He dedicates his verses to the memory of Gordon, and does it in a manly and honest way...The bush rhymes in the book are as good, if not better, than the racing bits; notably "The Muster" and "Skeleton Creek", both of which have been published in the Sydney Mail...but he is neither commonplace nor wanting in qualities that go to make up the good artist...'
-
Stirrup Jingles
1887
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 22 October 1887; (p. 864)
— Review of Stirrup Jingles from the Bush and the Turf : and other rhymes 1887 selected work poetry 'It is not too much to say, after reading Mr Mackay's rhymes of bush and turf, that we have one who gives promise of being rightly called a "poet-rider". Mr Mackay is well known upon the turf as a good unprofessional rider... He has the real poetic touch as well. His verses are just what they profess to be - bits of music and incident born of the life which they seek to portray...He frankly acknowledges having been saturated with Gordon's singing, and with perhaps having unconsciously fashioned his lines after his brilliant prototype. He dedicates his verses to the memory of Gordon, and does it in a manly and honest way...The bush rhymes in the book are as good, if not better, than the racing bits; notably "The Muster" and "Skeleton Creek", both of which have been published in the Sydney Mail...but he is neither commonplace nor wanting in qualities that go to make up the good artist...' -
A Bush Idyl
1889
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 6 April vol. 47 no. 1500 1889; (p. 696)
— Review of A Bush Idyl 1888 single work poetry '...the perusal of which affords a pleasing relief to the dull monotony of the unhappily accustomed versifier. Mr Mackay is already known as the author of "Stirrup Jingles" a collection of pieces which have a good deal of honest colour in them, although the lesson set by Adam Lindsay Gordon is rather too closely followed. But in this "Bush Idyl" Mr Mackay has given us a characteristically Australian poem. It is virile and healthy in its tone, its colour is true and treatment of its happily chosen subject highly artistic. It is not often we get such manly and heartfelt work from an Australian writer and though there is no straining after effect here, the result is clear and strongly defined...The worst that can be said in the way of criticism about this is, perhaps, that it reads too much like prose broken up into metrical lines...'
Last amended 6 Feb 2006 15:34:18
