From the Ballads to Brennan

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From the Ballads to Brennan
Author T. Inglis Moore
Language English
GenrePoetry anthology
Publisher Angus and Robertson
Publication date
1964
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages313 pp.

From the Ballads to Brennan is an anthology of Australian poetry edited by T. Inglis Moore, published by Angus and Robertson in 1964. [1]

Contents

The collection contains 209 poems, from a variety of sources. [2] The contents are separated into five sections: "Folk Songs and Ballads", "The Colonial Age", "Bush Ballads and Popular Verse", "Poets of the Nineties" and "The Early Twentieth Century".

This anthology comprises Volume I of a two-part anthology set titled Poetry in Australia. The second volume, titled Modern Australian Verse was edited by Douglas Stewart and was also published by Angus and Robertson in 1964. [3]

Contents

Folk Songs and Ballads

The Colonial Age

Bush Ballads and Popular Verse

Poets of the Nineties

The Early Twentieth Century

Publication history

The anthology was re-issued as follows:

Critical reception

Reviewing the anthology for The Bulletin R. A. Simpson found both good and bad in the selections. "The volume has been well planned in terms of contrasts. The 'academic' and 'popular' traditions are balanced satisfactorily against each other. It is a democratic and crowded collection, and it captures the growing pains of a country’s literature. Some of the humor remains humor today and there is a spattering of real poetry, as well as the poems and parts of poems that continue to be embarrassing skeletons in the literary cupboard regardless of the fact that Professor T. Inglis Moore has worked hard to give the skeletons respectable clothing." [6]

A reviewer in The Sydney Morning Herald concluded that "The selection in each group has been made with scholarly discrimination but with an eye to the general reader as much as to the poetry lover. All the old folk songs and ballads are here." They concluded by calling this "the most ambitious of Australian anthologies". [7]

See also

References

  1. "From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore (1964)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  2. "Austlit — From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore". Austlit. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  3. "Poetry in Australia. Volume II, Modern Australian Verse / chosen by Douglas Stewart". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  4. "From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore (1965)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  5. "From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore (1971)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  6. ""Growing Pains"". The Bulletin, 4 July 1964, p50. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  7. ""Wealth of verse"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 May 1964, p44. Retrieved 30 January 2026.