"Dominion" is a 1938 poem by the New Zealand writer
A. R. D. Fairburn
Arthur Rex Dugard Fairburn (2 February 1904 – 25 March 1957), commonly known by his initials A. R. D. Fairburn and otherwise as Rex, was a New Zealand poet who was born and died in Auckland.
Fairburn was born in Auckland in 1904. His grandfa ...
. It covers New Zealand and its national identity, in relation to its colonial history, political and economical realities, spirituality and nature. The tone alternates between satirical, tender and hopeful. It is divided into five major parts—"Utopia", "Album Leaves", "Elements", "Dialogue" and "Struggle in a Mirror"—with several further subsections.
It was published separately in 1938 and republished in 1952 in ''Three Poems'', together with "The Voyage" and "To a Friend in the Wilderness".
Reception
Marjorie J. Van Buren wrote in a 1964
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
thesis from the
Kansas State University
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
that "Fairburn's most extended criticism of New Zealand comes in ''Dominion'', a long and rather uneven work",
and that "in ''Dominion'', as throughout his work, Fairburn shows his critical concern for the morality of his nation and his world and his stubborn faith in the eventual triumph—over complacency, greed, and fear—of man's hope in 'the promised good' which 'yet lives in us like a taper in the mouth of a snow-man,/our sole heritage of warmth and life'".
Fairburn's biographer Denys Trussell has called ''Dominion'' "arguably the most important political poem written in New Zealand".
References
;Notes
;Literature
*
Further reading
* {{Cite book, last=Ross, first=John Clark, year=1962, title=A Study of the Poem 'Dominion' by A.R.D. Fairburn ''(M.A. thesis)'', publisher=
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well know ...
External links
''Dominion''at New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre
1938 poems
English-language poems
New Zealand poems
Political literature