Beach Burial

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"Beach Burial"
by Kenneth Slessor
Written1944
First published in Southerly
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Publication date1944
Lines21

"Beach Burial" (1944) is a poem by Australian poet Kenneth Slessor. [1]

Contents

It was originally published in Southerly journal in 1944, and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies. [1]

The poem was written around the time of the battle of El Alamein in 1942 while Slessor was a war correspondent. It reflects his experience of seeing dead seamen being pulled from the surf and buried in the sand in graves marked with a cross bearing the words "Unknown Seaman".

Critical reception

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature called it a "fine poem which reflects the futility of war, it expresses the bewildered pity of battle-hardened troops as they perform rough and ready but deeply-tender last rites over the sodden, nameless corpses." [2]

The Oxford Literary History of Australia stated that the poem was "notable for its formal experimentation with assonance, echo and half-rhyme." [3]

In his commentary on the poem in 60 Classic Australian Poems editor Geoff Page noted that this "is not a poem of strident assertion; it is a poem of 'perplexity', of 'bewildered pity, rather than a song of praise to the 'cause'". He concluded that "poems rarely come more perfect than this one." [4]

Publication history

After the poem's initial publication in Southerly it was reprinted as follows:

The poem has also been translated into Greek (1986), Indonesian (1991), and Arabic (1999). [1]

Notes

You can read the full text of the poem in The Age, 29 October 1966, p23 [11] and also on the "All Poetry" website. [33]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Austlit — "Beach Burial" by Kenneth Slessor". Austlit. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  2. ↑ The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, p79
  3. ↑ The Oxford Literary History of Australia edited by Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Strauss, 1st edition, p220
  4. ↑ 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009, p..
  5. ↑ "Australian Poetry 1944". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  6. ↑ "An Anthology of Australian Verse (George Mackaness)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  7. ↑ "A Book of Australian Verse (OUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  8. ↑ "Poems (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  9. ↑ "The Penguin Book of Australian Verse (Penguin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  10. ↑ "Modern Australian Verse (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  11. 1 2 ""Beach Burial"". The Age, 29 October 1966, p23. ProQuest   2520606351 . Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  12. ↑ "The Penguin Book of Australian Verse (Penguin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  13. ↑ "Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum (Rigby)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  14. ↑ "The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry (MUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  15. ↑ "The Collins Book of Australian Poetry (Collins)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  16. ↑ "Clubbing of the Gunfire : 101 Australian War Poems (MUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  17. ↑ "My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years (Lansdowne)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  18. ↑ "My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years (Lothian)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  19. ↑ "Two Centuries of Australian Poetry (OUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  20. ↑ "Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse (Heinemann, 1988)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  21. ↑ "The Sea Poems of Kenneth Slessor (Brindabella)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  22. ↑ "The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry (Penguin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  23. ↑ "The Faber Book of Modern Australian Verse (Faber)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  24. ↑ "Australian Poetry in the Twentieth Century (Heinemann)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  25. ↑ "Fivefathers : Five Australian Poets of the Pre-Academic Era (Carcanet)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  26. ↑ "The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse (SL of NSW Press)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  27. ↑ "Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology (OUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  28. ↑ "The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry (Penguin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  29. ↑ "60 Classic Australian Poems (UNSW)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  30. ↑ "Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature (A&U)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  31. ↑ "The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry (P&W)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  32. ↑ "Australian Poetry Since 1788 (UNSW Press)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  33. ↑ ""Beach Burial by Kenneth Slessor"". All Poetry. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
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