Robert Crawford (29 October 1868 – 13 January 1930) was an Australian poet.

Early life and career

Crawford was born in

Doonside, New South Wales Doonside is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Doonside is located 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Blacktown and ...

, the son of Robert Crawford senior, and was educated at

The King's School, Parramatta The King's School is an Education in Australia#Non-government schools, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Pre-school education, early learning, primary school, primary and secondary school, secondary day and boarding school, boardi ...

, and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. Crawford settled on a farm as his forefathers had done, but not being successful, became a clerk in Sydney and afterwards had a typewriting business. Some of Crawford's poems were published in '' The Bulletin'' and other periodicals. Crawford is believed to have been the first prize-winning haiku poet published in Australia, in ''The Bulletin'' on 12 August 1899.Haiku history in Australia
/ref> In 1904 a small collection, ''Lyric Moods:Various Verses'', was published in Sydney. An enlarged edition was later published in Melbourne retitled simply ''Lyric Moods'' (1909). In 1921 another volume, ''Leafy Bliss'', was published, and an enlarged edition appeared three years later. Not a great deal is known about Crawford; he was short of stature, poetical in spirit. He mixed little in literary circles and seems to be forgotten a few years after his death. The statement that he was educated at The King's School originally appeared in '' The Bookfellow'', and may have come direct from Crawford. If so there is no reason to doubt it, yet in the records of The King's School of his period the only R. Crawford is listed as Richard Crawford. It was also not possible to identify him positively with the Robert James G. W. Crawford who graduated B.A. at the University of Sydney in 1912, when the poet was about 44 years of age. Crawford is represented in some of the anthologies, and

A. G. Stephens Alfred George Stephens (28 August 1865 – 15 April 1933), commonly referred to as A. G. Stephens, was an Australian writer and literary critic, notably for ''The Bulletin (Australian periodical), The Bulletin''. He was appointed to that posit ...

thought highly of his work. His work has a delicate charm and, though at times one fears it will not rise above merely pretty verse, in some of his quatrains and lyrics Crawford does succeed in writing poetry of importance. Perhaps, as Stephens once suggested, he may be better appreciated in the 21st century.

Death

Crawford died suddenly at Lindfield, Sydney, on 13 January 1930.

Poetry collections

* ''Lyric Moods : Various Verses'' (1904) * ''Lyric Moods'' (1909) * ''The Leafy Bliss (1921)

References

External links

'Lyric Moods'
at the National Library of Australia 1868 births 1930 deaths People educated at The King's School, Parramatta 19th-century Australian poets 20th-century Australian poets {{australia-poet-stub