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Notes
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Dedication: Dedicated to my mother
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According to David Marr's biography of Patrick White, the book found little interest in Australia and sold few copies. In the 1970s White came to be embarrassed about his early poetry, and thought it was better forgotten. He wrote to the National Library of Australia requesting The Ploughman and Other Poems to be destroyed (597-598).
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In his article 'Some Facts about a Long Fiction: The Publication of Capricornia', Southerly 41.1 (1981): 82-104, Craig Munro states that 'The Ploughman' was 'in the press' with P. R. Stephensen & Co. (the successor to Stephensen's Endevour Press) in December 1934 (p. 91). Stepenson's company was liquidated and the book did not appear at that time.
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Sydney,
New South Wales,:Beacon Press
, 1935 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- The Ploughmani"I saw a ploughman against the sky", single work poetry (p. [no.1])
- If You Would Seei"If you would see that I love", single work poetry (p. [no.10])
- I Walked in the Gardeni"I walked in the garden of the sky", single work poetry (p. [no.11])
- Lovely, Lovely You May Bei"Lovely, lovely you may be", single work poetry (p. [no.12])
- He Looked for Lovei"He looked for Love,", single work poetry (p. [no.13])
- Lines Written after an Encounter with Death in a Country Lanei"This great mystery is too much for me.", single work poetry (p. [no.14])
- Bitter Were the Tears She Wepti"Bitter were the tears she wept", single work poetry (p. [no.15])
- Lament in Winteri"Wind upon snow; bracken that bows its head", single work poetry (p. [no.16])
- Resurrectioni"I have long wondered how you canons, deans,", single work poetry (p. [no.17])
- They Held out Their Hands to Mei"They held out their hands to me", single work poetry (p. [no.18])
- O Cold, Cold Raini"O cold, cold rain that patters on my face", single work poetry (p. [no.19])
- Meeting Againi"Still, my heart, for I am not afraid", single work poetry (p. [no.2])
- Second Lifei"Once in my far, untutored days", single work poetry (p. [no.20])
- Alonei"Now I know Death, eternity,", single work poetry (p. [no.21])
- Godstow Abbeyi"If they were wont to pray for peace", single work poetry (p. [no.22])
- The Bellsi"Never have the bells", single work poetry (p. [no.23])
- The Bridgei"So wide this sea,", single work poetry (p. [no.24])
- Trioi"Now when light is softer than sleep's wing,", single work poetry (p. [no.25])
- Wisdom for the Wisei"When wise men nod their heads and say", single work poetry (p. [no.26])
- Octoberi"October fanned the woods to flame,", single work poetry (p. [no.27])
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
The Novelist as Occasional Poet : Patrick White and Katharine Susannah Prichard
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White Centenary : The Legacy of a Prodigal Son 2014; (p. 196-209) ‘Few novelists are appreciated as much for their poetry as for their novels. Perhaps Thomas Hardy and D H Lawrence are among the rare exceptions. Some novelists go so far as to order the destruction of their poetry manuscripts, especially if classifiable as mainly juvenilia. I imagine that, as many novelists have done, writing occasional poems in one's youth is a good deal less taxing than the laborious penning of several early novels in draft form. Early `prentice' works such as these are frequently shredded or burned by novelists when their reputations have been established in the course of their developing careers. In many cases early experimental works are 'raided' by the novelist in later life, Patrick White, when it came to his oeuvre, rarely referred to his early work in poetry; neither indeed have his critics. No such reticence existed on the part of Katharine Susannah Prichard or on the part of the enthusiasts of her work. The more significant of her slim volumes of poems, The Earth Lover, was published in 1932 only three years before White's own second small volume, The Ploughman and Other Poems (1935).’ (Introduction) - y Patrick White : A Life London : Jonathan Cape , 1991 Z307107 1991 single work biography 'Patrick White, winner of the Nobel Prize and author of more than a dozen novels and plays - including Voss, The Vivisector and The Twyborn Affair - lived an extraordinary life. David Marr's brilliant biography draws not only on a wide range of original research but also on the single most difficult and important source of all: the man himself. Gracefully written and exhaustively researched, Patrick White is a biography of classic excellence - sympathetic, objective, penetrating and as blunt, when necessary, as White himself.' (Source: LibrariesAustralia)
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The Search for an Idiom: From Thirteen Poems to The Living and the Dead
1983
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White 1983; (p. 14-25) -
The Poems of Patrick White
1975
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 4 no. 3-4 1975; (p. 18-22) -
Patrick White's First Book
1974
single work
column
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 6 no. 4 1974; (p. 434-436)
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Patrick White: Brilliant Young Australian Produces First Volume of Poems
1935
single work
review
— Appears in: The Opinion , 15 May vol. 1 no. 1 1935; (p. 5)
— Review of The Ploughman and Other Poems 1935 selected work poetry -
New Australian Verse
1935
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 10 July vol. 56 no. 2891 1935; (p. 4)
— Review of The Ploughman and Other Poems 1935 selected work poetry ; The Roads and Other Poems 1934 selected work poetry -
The Search for an Idiom: From Thirteen Poems to The Living and the Dead
1983
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White 1983; (p. 14-25) - y Patrick White : A Life London : Jonathan Cape , 1991 Z307107 1991 single work biography 'Patrick White, winner of the Nobel Prize and author of more than a dozen novels and plays - including Voss, The Vivisector and The Twyborn Affair - lived an extraordinary life. David Marr's brilliant biography draws not only on a wide range of original research but also on the single most difficult and important source of all: the man himself. Gracefully written and exhaustively researched, Patrick White is a biography of classic excellence - sympathetic, objective, penetrating and as blunt, when necessary, as White himself.' (Source: LibrariesAustralia)
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The Poems of Patrick White
1975
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 4 no. 3-4 1975; (p. 18-22) - y Patrick White : A General Introduction Stanley Gerson (translator), ( trans. Adolf Modersohn )expression Düsseldorf : Classen Verlag , 1973 Z189162 1973 single work criticism biography
- y Patrick White Edinburgh London : Oliver and Boyd , 1967 Z480127 1967 single work criticism
Last amended 1 Jul 2012 17:15:25
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