AN "AUSTRALIAN" ANTHOLOGY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12647, 10 November 1906, Page 8

AN "AUSTRALIAN" ANTHOLOGY.

The Englishman, if ho stLl] exists, who ownoeivce of New Zealand ac an outlying portion of Now South Wales, will b? confirmed in hie illusion if he should chance to come across a copy of 51 r Bertram Stovcns's just published book, cuntitled "An Amrtihology of Australian Verse." Mr Stevene explains hi his preface, that "Australian" in this conneetiion is meant to include New Zealand, but wo are at a lose to know why ho should -use it so, amd thus ignore the individuality of a couintiry which contributes just one-fifth of the verso included in his volume. A poet, or even a collector of pootry, may bo allowed to .have his whims, but eurely it is canryhig it ratlior far, for instance, to speak of Domett's great Maori "day-dream," "Ranolf amd Amohia," as his "only poem showing " traces of Australian influence." Bait oven Mr Stevens's im<p]jed iigmoranoo of our sepairate existence must not be allowed to blind tie to the excellence of tho collection of verse which he has made. In making all ho has done a very bold thing, if he intended it to be truly representative of Australian . nnd New Zealand poetry. For Mr Stevens, though he does not say so, has been hampered by a very real difficulty ; he has had to make as typical a collection as may be of "Australian" verse, without directly drawing in one. instance from the "Bulletin," which, whatever fa-ults it may have, has, during the past twenty years, done more to foster and encourage the writing of such verse than any other journal. It so happens, however, that Mr A. G. Stephens, who has been for a long time the editor of the literary "Red Page" of the "Bulletin.," is also making an antihology of Australasian veret?, and doubtless thus explains why Mr Bertram Stevene has boon unable to cull directly from tho "Bulletin" files. While, therefore-, the collection of poems forming "An. Afuthology of Australian Verse ,, has been selected with the nlcrst poetic taste, .ijvd lutrdly any verges aTo included which, tho reader would mot regret to Icse, the omissions, if it is to be regarded as a representative anthology, are. notable, and sometimes startling. Not a word is said of Bircroft Boake, the lmlmppy author of that terrible, but thoroughly characteristic Australian .poem "Wihero tho Dead Men Lie." Lnwson and Paterecm are we LI represent ed, the acknowledgments being made to their collected volume?. The lilting bushman, WHI H. Ogiilvio, tho author of "Fair Girls and Grey Homes." is represented by six poems, of which fivo ,ire chosnn out of English magazirios, but one of these is tho splendidly descriptive "Drought," full of euoh stanzas as: — On tho rim of the world the lightnings pity. The lieat-wnvcs qiuver and dance, And the breath of the wind is a srword to slay, And the sunbeams wch a knee. New Zea landers suffer even moro from the restricted field of selection. Hubert Church, some of whose smaller poems are f '1 of felicity and charm, does not appear at all, being almost entirely a "Bulletin" poot. Arthur H. Adams, the writer of true New Zealand veree as "The Dwellings of Our Dead' , is represented only by two poems, entirely the product of his English experience, namely, "Bayswater vV." and "Bond Street." Still, Mr Bertram S-tovans oouH not help his restrictions. He had notified the preparation of his anthology, we believe, before his rival, and ho could hardly be expected to draw back after that. Ho has made a charming and a fragrant garden of verse, and if tho dust of the desert, and the scent of the bush, come but seldom into it, the garden is not less beautiful, and there are no rank growths like those which disfigure Mr Sladcn's jungles. Mr

himself, who bulked so largely in his own collections, has dwindled to thirteen short lines, nn ominous num>er. Like Alico in Wonderland ho nay exclaim ''I was never so small as his before." It is a pleasure to have nch things as John Farrell's "AurTnlia to England," John Sandes's ''Rooi-baatjee Singing on the Road" ito pive it a name by which it will be rcoognased), ami Unmtoji iS>tephens'6 Dominion of Australia" together in ono volume. Of the New Zealand writers, Domett was surely worth moro than two pieces, if five must form tlio share of Mr D. M. Ross, but, generally speaking, the selections do not admit of much complaint. Only its omissions can be charged against this charming volume, which shows thet both Australia and New Zealand can produce agreeable poetry, if neither country has as yet brought forth great poets.