AustLit

Stewart argues that the "vagueness" critics have found in Neilson's poetry should be seen as a "mysterious quality", not a "lack of mastery over syntax and design". Because Neilson treats life as an illusion reality becomes a mystery, the unknowable. A fuller understanding of this aspect enables a new approach to the language of Neilson's poetry and reveals a "private symbolic code pointing to an awareness of mystical unity".

Walker examines the religious foundation of Spence's political and social ideas in the context of the colonial and British background. Spence's conversion to the Unitarian church enabled her to reject the idea of predestination taught by the Presbyterian church and believe that anyone can change and be saved. Spence's subsequent belief in a utopian society is reflected in much of her writing, providing a view quite different to the more well-known writers of the Bulletin school.

Boehm examines the sources of most characters and events to show how far Clarke departed from the records he read in preparation for writing His Natural Life. Boehm argues that, in his reading, Clarke discovered that in most cases the law made the criminal, not vice versa.