AN AUSTRALIAN ANNUAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18465, 28 January 1922, Page 2

AN AUSTRALIAN ANNUAL.

There are anthologies and there are annuals, and both are useful adjuncts to the study of poetry. The publication of “The Australian Poetry Annual for 1921” marks a movement ip poetry production in the Commonwealth which augurs well for the progress of the people of Australia.

The booklet, which contains less than 40 pages of the club’s monthly magazine, its appearance, is prefaced by the following explanation:— The “Australian Poetry Annual’’ comprises a selection made by the members of the Melbourne Literary Club from the , pages of the _ club’s monthly magazine. “Birth.” This littta eight page journal now entered its sixth year of publication, and its existence continues to be possible through the..voluntary efforts of , all concerned.. It consists chiefly of verse, with, a page or two of critical matter in each issue! From time to time short -prose pieces have also been presented, but the present col- ; lection is confined to verse. . . . The title t«ied is not meant to imply that contemporary Australian poetry is represented here completely, bat rather to indicate the hope that our writers themselves will make such a representation possible in future numbers. Twenty-seven writers are' represented in the annual, which is therefore worth attention as eriiibiting the tone and trend of Australian poetry to-day. There is much that is beautify!, much that is tunefuL a good deal of originality and a smattering of the weird and fanciful within the pages of the booklet. The first two or three pages hold a couple of gems:— VISITANT../ I saw the moon oomo floating, taint end white Over the hill and soft as spreading snow, The dark bush blossomed m a flower of light . That shone; with silvery glow. No secret was - revealed; nothing was said, ■ But quietly in the hush A grave within my heart opened, and one longctead , Walked with me through the hush. —Vanoe Palmer.. THE PLOVER* A frosty night ebiazo with stars, and the ; whinnying cry of the; plover I All that I thought I had half forgot like a , whelming flush comes ever— i And I’m book at the old bush homestead, : with the plover calling, calling, ; Down by the creeping river when the wintry dusk is falling. . 1 Oh, God! the scent of thq bush again, and ’ the face of my long dead lover, In the -frosty night ablaze with stars, and the' wistful, cry of the plover.

In “A Horse Camp” Mr Conrad H. Sayoe has successfully sat at tire feet of Vachell Lindsay and Walt Whitman, the result being a vivid word picture‘which will be called :; pootry or prose, according to the standards of the critic. “The Lover Dreams,” by C. A. Cordon-Gumming, is Swinburne and ' water, and Hugh “The Rescue” is scarcely worthy of the man who wrote “Columbine.” Many of the verses printed give evidence ’of a sincere imitation; thus W. H. Joyce’s I “The Wind-jammers” is altogether too reminiscent of John Masefield’s “Biography.” One of the best pieces in the Annual is Bernard O’Dowd’s “Witch of Our Wilderness! ” v It has music and ' charm, and is full ~of felicitous expression,, but it t is too long to quote. Two poems which faithfully reflect the Australian ' atmosphere are Henry Tate’s “The Splitter” and Elsie Cole’s “The Tell-tale,” the former may be quoted in full: —

THE SPLITTER. When night comes And the roopoko calls When darkness has folded the gums, : Who cares if a light leaf falls? Her song kept time v tiroe to my axe’s ring, i Woking! the magpie’s not©;/ And-th© good axe thrilled to hear tier sing As he sank in thei round log’s throat. Our love was e golden flower of light But thunder watched its birth, And she sank from me in. th© gloom of a night. As a light leaf falls to earth. To-day, to-day th© good aie' rings, And I—l ply it still; Tho magpie in, the bhiegum sings— And she lios under .th© hill. When night comes And the mop ok© colls, When darkness hflfl folded the gums, Who cares if a light loaf falls? i The appended bibliography will be found most useful for reference, besides giving a poetical pedigree of the writers represented in the Annual.