Compiled and edited by Matthew Richardson, with a Preface by Clancy’s Great Grandson
This is a book with a surprising agenda. Ostensibly the newest in a series of single volumes that combine selected poems with critical writings, it pursues an exploration of what poetry is and isn’t. This collection of Banjo’s best poems, with striking comments by Paterson and others, had to be published.
Generations of critics and academics have been running Banjo down:
“Bush poetry has no literary value.”
This collection tests the proposition that academics and learned critics are too cold blooded to be trusted as judges of true poetry.
Banjo Paterson is well suited to launch such an interrogation, because there have always been critics denying his work is real poetry, and educators keep it away from students. Paterson himself opens the challenge in eloquent talks about the nature of poetry, published in the critical section of this book.
Poets and Perspectives: Banjo Paterson contains:
- Dozens of the best poems by Australia’s favourite poets.
- A preface by Prof. Robert Clancy—great grandson of Clancy of the Overflow.
- Extracts from the famous Town v. Bush controversy led by Henry Lawson.
- A case for including Paterson‘s work in the school system—inspiring young bush poets.
Spot us at the 2025 National Bush Poetry Championships in Bathurst, NSW from Thursday the 6th –Sunday the 9th of November. Stop by the Panthers Football Club in Bathurst on Saturday the 8th at 1pm to hear from Prof. Robert Clancy, Clancy of the Overflow’s great grandson. Copies of the book will be available to purchase.
Contributors with exciting, eye-opening insights provide a thorough account and criticism of Australian bush poetry as a genre.
RRP $22.95
126 pages,
215 mm x 153 mm, paperback,
ISBN: 9781875684854