''The Poets of the Tomb'' 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

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 ...

. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 8 October 1892 in reply to fellow poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson's poem, ''

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

.'' 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 ...

. This poem ended the first phase of the debate because, as Paterson observed in 1939, the poets "...ran out of material."

Reception

''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' said of the poem that it "...widened the discussion to include the role of literature in reforming the total Australian society..."''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'', 2nd edition, p131

Further publications

* ''

In the Days When the World was Wide and Other Verses ''In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses'' (1896) is the first collection of poems by Australian poet and author Henry Lawson. It was released in hardback by Angus and Robertson in 1896, and features the poet's widely anthologised p ...

'' by Henry Lawson (1896) * ''Humorous Verses'' by Henry Lawson (1924) * ''Freedom on the Wallaby : Poems of the Australian People'' edited by Marjorie Pizer (1953) * ''A Camp-Fire Yarn : Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900'' edited by Leonard Cronin (1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poets of the Tomb, The 1892 poems Poetry by Henry Lawson Bulletin Debate Works originally published in The Bulletin (Australian periodical)

Reception

Further publications

See also

References