Woman to Man (poem)

"Woman to Man"
by Judith Wright
Written	1946
First published in	Meanjin Papers
Country	Australia
Language	English
Publication date	Spring 1946
Lines	20

"Woman to Man" (1946) is a poem by Australian poet Judith Wright. ^[1]

It was originally published in Meanjin Papers in Spring 1946, ^[2] and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies. ^[1]

Synopsis

"The eyeless laborer in the night", of the first line of the poem, is the unborn foetus of a pregnancy that Wright would never experience, as she had been told as a teenager that she would never have children. ^[3]

Critical reception

Writing on the Red Page of The Bulletin a reviewer commented that this poem "moves into midnight...and there, in a midnight which represents the darkness where the unborn child takes shape,...and the darkness of death, and the darkness of not-being in which the unborn embryo, dead at the beginning of its life-cycle...there in that midnight at once creative and destructive, the primal midnight of the universe, life and death wrestle in the book". ^[4]

Publication history

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

• Australian Poetry 1947 edited by Frederick T. Macartney, Angus and Robertson, 1948 ^[5]
• Voices : A Quarterly of Poetry, Spring 1948 ^[1]
• Woman to Man by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1949
• Modern Australian Poetry edited by H. M. Green, Melbourne University Press, 1952 ^[6]
• A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1956 ^[7]
• The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by John Thompson, Kenneth Slessor and R. G. Howarth, Penguin Books, 1958 ^[8]
• Five Senses: Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1963 ^[9]
• Judith Wright : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1963 ^[10]
• Six Voices: Contemporary Australian Poets edited by Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Angus and Robertson, 1963 ^[11]
• Modern Australian Verse edited by Douglas Stewart, Angus and Robertson, 1964 ^[12]
• A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1968 ^[13]
• Judith Wright : Collected Poems, 1942-1970 by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1971 ^[14]
• The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine, Penguin Books, 1972 ^[15]
• Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, Rigby, 1976 ^[16]
• The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb, Melbourne University Press, 1980 ^[17]
• The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall, Collins, 1981 ^[18]
• Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984 ^[19]
• The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984 ^[20]
• My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer, Lansdowne, 1985 ^[21]
• Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O’Connor, Oxford University Press, 1988 ^[22]
• The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Ken L. Goodwin and Alan Lawson, Macmillan, 1990 ^[23]
• A Human Pattern : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1990 ^[24]
• Australian Poetry in the Twentieth Century edited by Robert Gray and Geoffrey Lehmann, Heinemann, 1991 ^[25]
• The Faber Book of Modern Australian Verse edited by Vincent Buckley, Faber, 1991 ^[26]
• The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry edited by John Tranter and Philip Mead, Penguin, 1991 ^[27]
• Collected Poems 1942-1985 by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1994 ^[28]
• The Oxford Book of Australian Women’s Verse edited by Susan Lever, 1995 ^[29]
• Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry edited by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden, Oxford Uuiversity Press, 1996 ^[30]
• Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard, Oxford University Press, 1998 ^[31]
• Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell, Gary Allen, 2007 ^[32]
• Grace and Other Poems by Judith Wright, Picaro Press, 2009 ^[33]
• Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore, and Elizabeth Webby, Allen and Unwin, 2009 ^[34]
• The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard, Puncher & Wattmann, 2009 ^[35]
• 100 Australian Poems of Love and Loss edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant Books, 2011 ^[36]
• Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011 ^[37]
• Love is Strong as Death edited by Paul Kelly, Hamish Hamilton, 2019 ^[38]

See also

• 1946 in Australian literature
• 1946 in poetry

References

1. "Austlit — "Woman to Man" by Judith Wright". Austlit. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
2. ""Woman to Man by Judith Wright"". Meanjin. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
3. The Unknown Judith Wright by Georgina Arnott, UWA Publishing, 2016, p242
4. ""Lyrics of Midnight"". The Bulletin, 14 December 1949, p43. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
5. "Australian Poetry 1947 edited by Frederick T. Macartney". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
6. "Modern Australian Poetry edited by H. M. Green". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
7. "A Book of Australian Verse (OUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
8. "The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by John Thompson, Kenneth Slessor and R. G. Howarth". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
9. "Five Senses: Selected Poems by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
10. "Judith Wright : Selected Poems by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
11. "Six Voices: Contemporary Australian Poets edited by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
12. "Modern Australian Verse (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
13. "A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
14. "Judith Wright : Collected Poems, 1942-1970 (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
15. "The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
16. "Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
17. "The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
18. "The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
19. "Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
20. "The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
21. "My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
22. "Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O'Connor". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
23. "The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Ken L. Goodwin and Alan Lawson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
24. "A Human Pattern : Selected Poems by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
25. "Australian Poetry in the Twentieth Century edited by Robert Gray and Geoffrey Lehmann". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
26. "The Faber Book of Modern Australian Verse edited by Vincent Buckley". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
27. "The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry (Penguin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
28. "Collected Poems 1942-1985 by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
29. "The Oxford Book of Australian Women's Verse edited by Susan Lever". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
30. "Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry edited by edited by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
31. "Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
32. "Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
33. "Grace and Other Poems by Judith Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
34. "Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore, and Elizabeth Webby". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
35. "The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
36. "100 Australian Poems of Love and Loss edited by Jamie Grant". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
37. "Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
38. "Love is Strong as Death edited by Paul Kelly". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2025.