Suburban Sonnet

Last updated

"Suburban Sonnet"
by Gwen Harwood
First published in The Bulletin
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Publication date1963
Lines14

"Suburban Sonnet" is a poem by Australian poet Gwen Harwood. [1]

Contents

It was first published in The Bulletin on 12 January 1963, [2] , under the author's pen-name of "Miriam Stone", and later in several of the author's collections and in other Australian poetry anthologies.

Outline

While caring for her children a "suburban housewife" remembers the time when she was a pianist who once played for Rubinstein.

Analysis

While reviewing the poet's Poems: Volume Two collection the reviewer Geoffrey Lehmann commented that "Her poems about bluestockings and critics indicate perhaps an overconsciousness of possible critical reaction." As an example of this analysis he quoted a line from this poem: "Once she played for Rubinstein, who yawned." He went on to say that "Her ingenuity in avoiding obvious phrases is one of the pleasures of her work, but sometimes this makes her poetry excessively cerebral." [3]

In his commentary on the poem in 60 Classic Australian Poems Geoff Page noted there "is a rich vein of 'suburban disillusionment' running through our poetry and [this poem] by Gwen Harwood is its definitive expression.” [4]

Further publications

After its initial publication in The Bulletin magazine in 1963, the poem was reprinted as follows:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwen Harwood</span> Australian poet

Gwen Harwood was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won numerous poetry awards and prizes, and one of Australia's most significant poetry prizes, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize is named for her. Her work is commonly studied in schools and university courses.

Geoffrey Donald Page is an Australian poet, translator, teacher and jazz enthusiast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Man from Ironbark</span> Poem by Banjo Paterson

"The Man From Ironbark" is a poem by Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson. It is written in the iambic heptameter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Wallace-Crabbe</span> Australian poet and emeritus professor

Christopher Keith Wallace-Crabbe is an Australian poet and emeritus professor in the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.

The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form. It is named after Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971).

Saltbush Bill is a humorous poem by Australian writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 15 December 1894, the Christmas issue of that publication.

Kate Llewellyn is an Australian poet, author, diarist and travel writer.

"Faces in the Street" (1888) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.

"The Crane is My Neighbour" (1938) is a poem by Australian poet John Shaw Neilson.

"The Roaring Days" (1889) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.

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

"South of My Days" (1945) is a poem by Australian poet Judith Wright.

"Bullocky" (1944) is a poem by Australian poet Judith Wright.

"Nationality" is a poem by Australian poet Mary Gilmore. It was first published in Australian Poetry 1942, edited by Robert D. Fitzgerald in 1942, and later in the poet's collection Selected Verse, and other Australian poetry anthologies.

"The Orange Tree" is a poem by Australian poet John Shaw Neilson. It was first published in The Bookfellow on 15 February 1921, and later in the poet's collections and other Australian poetry anthologies.

"Middleton's Rouseabout" is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in The Freeman's Journal on 8 March 1890, and later in the poet's collections and other Australian poetry anthologies.

Unfinished - individual poem - Gilmore, Lawson, Harpur, Kendall, Paterson

"I'm Like All Lovers" is a poem by Australian poet Lesbia Harford. It was written in 1917, though first published in the poet's collection The Poems of Lesbia Harford in 1941 under the title "Poems XIV", and later in other Australian poetry anthologies.

"The Mayan Books" is a poem by Australian poet A. D. Hope. It was first published in the poet's collection Orpheus in 1991, and later in other Australian poetry anthologies.

"The Commercial Traveller's Wife" is a poem by Australian poet Ronald McCuaig. It was first published in the anthology The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by John Thompson, Kenneth Slessor and R. G. Howarth in 1958, and later in the author's collections and in other Australian poetry anthologies.

References

  1. 1 2 3 ""Suburban Sonnet" by Gwen Harwood". Austlit. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  2. ↑ ""Suburban Sonnet"". The Bulletin, 12 January 1963, p36. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  3. ↑ ""Poets and Chaos"". The Bulletin, 17 August 1968, p82. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  4. ↑ 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009, pp 116-118
  5. ↑ "Australian Poetry 1964 edited by Randolph Stow". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  6. ↑ "Poems: Volume 2 by Gwen Harwood". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  7. ↑ "Selected Poems by Gwen Harwood (1975)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  8. ↑ "Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  9. ↑ "The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  10. ↑ "Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "Selected Poems by Gwen Harwood (1985)". Austlit. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  12. ↑ "My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "Inner Cities: Australian Women's Memory of Place edited by Drusilla Modjeska". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  14. ↑ "Selected Poems by Gwen Harwood (1990)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  15. ↑ "Selected Poems: A New Edition by Gwen Harwood". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  16. ↑ "The Indigo Book of Modern Australian Sonnets edited by Geoff Page". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  17. ↑ "80 Great Poems from Chaucer to Now edited by Geoff Page". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  18. ↑ "The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Kinsella". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  19. ↑ "60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.