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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Many poems in this collection explore the intrusions of 'the wild' into daily life, through memories, in illness, and in places that you've lost or left behind. Dougan is interested in the ways in which the past re-enters the present, particularly through the secrets of family life, in all kinds of atavism, and in pockets of wildness in the suburbs and the city which are a source of liveliness and a dark sort of energy. Her poems feature old houses, ruins, revisited places; they focus on the bonds between the generations, between children and adults, humans and animals, and humans and the physical world. The title of the collection refers broadly to these ties, which impose a sense of guardianship on those who are bound by them. In contrast to the wildness they recognise, the poems themselves seek to tread lightly - they aspire to quietness and reticence, to cumulative rather than immediate effects, and to sustaining a relatively natural and unobtrusive voice.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: for Julia
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Shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier's 2016 Book Awards (Poetry).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Lucy Dougan's The Guardians and Ali Cobby Eckermann's Inside My Mother
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , vol. 60 no. 2 2015; (p. 153-155)
— Review of The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry ; Inside My Mother 2015 selected work poetry -
Poetic Landscapes
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 375 2015; (p. 69-70)
— Review of The Hazards 2015 selected work poetry ; Conversations I've Never Had 2015 selected work poetry ; Here Be Dragons 2015 selected work poetry ; The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry -
Review Short : Lucy Dougan’s The Guardians
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , October no. 51.1 2015;
— Review of The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry -
Australian Poetry
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 29-30 August 2015; (p. 21)
— Review of This Intimate War : Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915 Mehmet Ali Celikel (translator), 2015 selected work poetry ; The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry ; The Hazards 2015 selected work poetry -
Poetry Book Review: The Guardians by Lucy Dougan
2015
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The NSW Writers' Centre Blog
— Review of The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry
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Lucy Dougan : The Guardians
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , vol. 10 no. 2015;
— Review of The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry -
Poetry Book Review: The Guardians by Lucy Dougan
2015
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The NSW Writers' Centre Blog
— Review of The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry -
Australian Poetry
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 29-30 August 2015; (p. 21)
— Review of This Intimate War : Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915 Mehmet Ali Celikel (translator), 2015 selected work poetry ; The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry ; The Hazards 2015 selected work poetry -
Review Short : Lucy Dougan’s The Guardians
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , October no. 51.1 2015;
— Review of The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry -
Poetic Landscapes
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 375 2015; (p. 69-70)
— Review of The Hazards 2015 selected work poetry ; Conversations I've Never Had 2015 selected work poetry ; Here Be Dragons 2015 selected work poetry ; The Guardians 2015 selected work poetry
Awards
- 2016 winner Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Poetry
- 2016 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Poetry
- 2015 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Judith Wright Calanthe Award