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Spotlight on Francis Webb single work   criticism  
  • Author:agent Robert Adamson http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/adamson-robert
Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 Spotlight on Francis Webb
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Francis Webb burst onto the Australian poetry scene in 1948 with his first book, A Drum for Ben Boyd. He followed this with Leichhardt in Theatre three years later. Right from the start it was impossible to ignore him. The poem 'Morgan's Country' - an inner-portrait of Dan 'mad-dog' Morgan in which Webb seems to enter the outlaw's consciousness - is an innovative work that ran against the grain for an Australian poem in 1950. However, instead of embellishing a bushranger myth as Nolan did with his images of Ned Kelly, Webb strips away traces of narrative and then focuses on tiny details in a filmic way: 'At the window sill/ A blowfly strums on two strings of air'. (Author's introduction 65)

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Last amended 7 Jan 2013 13:49:46
65-66 Spotlight on Francis Webbsmall AustLit logo Australian Poetry Journal
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