Hello
Gentle Reader
Les
Murray was one of the most renowned and powerful voices of poetry bellowing and
blowing from Australia, has died aged 80. Considered a living national
treasure, Les Murray, had pushed Australia beyond its penal colony past, into
one of the most powerful voices of English poetry, over the latter half of the twentieth
century and early twenty-first century. The poetry of Les Murray was founded in
the rural landscape of his childhood, on a dairy farm in New South Wales. His
poetry is known for its frank and blunt discussions, as the poet despised
elitism which demoted and demanded relegation. His poetry often bristled with
anger and resentment, as the culturally established ensured its pointed
perspective retained its exclusive place, while alienating others to the fringe
circles or outcasts. His famous essays denote the modernists such as T.S. Eliot
and Erza Pound as practitioners of windbaggery. His poems also carry
anti-establishment principles, which maybe formed from his troubled and unfortunate
days at school, where he was taunted for his weight and mocked for his social
class and poverty. Yet the biggest event that changed the poet’s life was the
death of his mother when he was twelve, due to complications of a miscarriage. His
father fell into a state of grief, and Les Murray remained the chain to reality
from there on out. His mother’s death was due to the doctor failing to call an
ambulance soon enough to get her to the hospital, is said to be the spark of
his outrage against the establishment and the urban elite, as it cost others
gravely in the long run. The themes of dispossession, relegation, and a demand
for independence became the cornerstones of his poetry; despite being a
admired, renowned, acclaimed, and decorated poet and writer. This perspective
would be made towards the idea of colonialism as well, though he praised the
pioneers of their time, he refuted the notion that Australia should remain
shackled to the common wealth and its colonial progenitors, and instead strike out
on its own as a republic worthy of its own name and merit. His poetry often
carried a nationalistic trajectory, praising the landscape and the aboriginals
who inhabit the land long before hand. His work often incorporates Australian
dialect or vernacular terms, in them to give them their added national linguistic
enjoyment, portraying the country as independent in spirit and language,
severing the apron strings in metaphor if not in reality. His poetry was
physical in form, rooted in Australia, its landscape, its people, and his own
childhood which had provided him the necessary material to publish thirty
collections of poems, two verse novels, and countless essays and anthologies.
A
favourite to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Les Murray often stated he was
not interested in the award. Despite this, he was often seen as a perennial candidate
for the award, for his open, honest and direct works of poetry, which eschewed
the pomp and pretense of the modernists, in favour of a style that was
inclusive for all to enjoy. In this regard, Les Murray had a liberal idea of
the concept of poetry, he believed, everywhere in all forms people performed
poetry, as it was not designated exclusively to language; which included in his
opinion everything from dance to chopping wood. Yet, thankfully in the case of
Les Murray it was designated in the form of language.
Rest
in Peace Les Murray.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
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