Henry Lawson Poems

Description

Inspired by the passionate energy that informs Lawson's verse, Colin Roderick has brought together some of Lawson's best-loved poems. The very best of Henry Lawson is showcased - heart-rending tales of the human condition, rousing poems of social protest, images of comic characters, classic portraits such as Middleton's rouseabout, as well as some of Lawson's lesser known works, including the poignant verse addressed to his lost love, Hannah Thornburn. Henry Lawson was a man burdened by poverty and deafness and haunted by the spectres of alcoholism and madness. Against his tortured life, the spirit, humour and understanding evident in this collection show the breadth of Lawson's achievement and demonstrate why he has endured as one of Australia's great poets.

Henry Lawson was born in Grenfell, NSW, in 1867. At 14 he became totally deaf, an affliction which many have suggested rendered his world all the more vivid and subsequently enlivened his later writing. After a stint of coach painting, he edited a periodical, The Republican, and began writing verse and short stories. His first work of short fiction appeared in the Bulletin in 1888. He travelled and wrote short fiction and poetry throughout his life and published numerous collections of both even as his marriage collapsed and he descended into poverty and mental illness. He died in 1922, leaving his wife and two children.