''In Answer to Various Bards'' (a.k.a. ''An Answer to Various Bards'') is a poem by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 1 October 1892 in reply to fellow poet

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

's poem, ''

In Answer to "Banjo", and Otherwise ''The City Bushman'' is a poem by iconic Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 6 August 1892, under the title ''In Answer to "Banjo", and Otherwise''. It was the fourth work in the Bul ...

.'' In '' Up The Country,'' Lawson had criticised "

The City Bushman ''The City Bushman'' is a poem by iconic Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 6 August 1892, under the title ''In Answer to "Banjo", and Otherwise''. It was the fourth work in the Bull ...

" such as Banjo Paterson who tended to romanticise bush life. Paterson, in turn, accused Lawson of representing bush life as nothing but doom and gloom, famously ending with the line ''"For the bush will never suit you, and you'll never suit the bush."'' This exchange sparked what is known as the

Bulletin Debate The "''Bulletin'' Debate" was a well-publicised dispute in '' The Bulletin'' magazine between two of Australia's best known writers and poets, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. The debate took place via a series of poems about the merits of livin ...

, mainly between Paterson and Lawson, but also including

Edward Dyson Edward George Dyson (4 March 1865 – 22 August 1931), or 'Ted' Dyson, was an Australian journalist, poet, playwright and short story writer. He was the elder brother of illustrators Will Dyson (1880–1938) and Ambrose Dyson (1876–1913), wi ...

and

Francis Kenna Francis Kenna (21 September 1865 – 23 June 1932), was an Australian poet, journalist, and Labor Member of the Legislative Assembly in Queensland. He edited the "Brisbane Worker". He published Banjo, of the Overflow, a parody of Banjo Paterso ...

Reception

Writing in ''The Advertiser'', in a review of ''Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other Verses'', a reviewer states: "The 'note of melancholy' which Marcus Clarke and other writers have found in the bush does not appeal to him aterson and he has set out his attitude in regard to the 'dismal' tribe in 'an answer to various bards,' which appears in this volume.""Recent Publications", ''The Advertiser'', 17 March 1917, p89
/ref>

Further publications

* '' Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other Verses'' by A. B. Paterson (1917) * ''The Collected Verse of A.B. Paterson'' (1921) * ''Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900'' compiled by Rosamund Campbell and Philippa Harvie (1983) * ''The Penguin Book of Australian Satirical Verse'' edited by Philip Neilsen (1986) * ''A Vision Splendid : The Complete Poetry of A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson'' (1990) * ''The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature'' edited by Ken L. Goodwin and Alan Lawson (1990) * ''Selected Poems : A. B. Paterson'' edited by Les Murray (1992) * ''The Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson A. B. Paterson'' edited by Clement Semmler (1992) * ''Banjo Paterson : His Poetry and Prose' by Richard Hall (1993) * ''The Sting in the Wattle : Australian Satirical Verse'' edited by Philip Neilsen (1993)

References

{{Banjo Paterson 1892 poems Poetry by Banjo Paterson Bulletin Debate Works originally published in The Bulletin (Australian periodical)

Reception

Further publications

See also

References