Kangaroo (poem)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1819 poem by Barron Field
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
PublisherGeorge Howe
Publication date1819
| "Kangaroo" | |
|---|---|
| by Barron Field | |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | George Howe |
| Publication date | 1819 |
| Full text | |
 Kangaroo (poem) at Wikisource | |
"Kangaroo" is an 1819 poem by English-born Australian author Barron Field.[1]
It was first published in the author's collection First Fruits of Australian Poetry,[2] the first book of poetry published in Australia.[3]
The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states that the poem "depicts the animal as an Antipodean oddity, an anomaly of the animal world yet typical of the equally strange Australian landscape.".[3]
Critical reception
The Oxford Literary History of Australia states: "Field's poetry laments the lack of either classical or familiar poetic associations in the alien environment, a lament that was mocked at the time and has been since for its pretension, but which has also been read as a witty parody of colonial literary pretentiousness."[4]
In The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry Michael Farrell noted that "The historical precedence of "The Kangaroo," as well as in anxiety over Australia's rhyme with failure as an analogy to the colonial enterprise itself, marks it as a benchmark poem for subsequent settler poems." [5]
Publication history
After the poem's initial publication in First Fruits of Australian Poetry in 1819[1] it was reprinted as follows:
- The Examiner (London, UK), 16 January 1820, p40[1]
- Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales edited by Barron Field, John Murray, 1825[6]
- The Gleaner, 26 April 1827[7]
- Once a Month, vol. 1 no. 4, 15 October 1884[1]
- An Animal Anthology edited by Hal Missingham, Shepherd Press, 1948[8]
- The Legend of the Coming of the First Kangaroo by Lindsay A. Dane and Barron Field, Truesdell Press, 1948[9]
- Bards in the Wilderness : Australian Colonial Poetry to 1920 edited by Adrian Mitchell and Brian Elliott, Nelson, 1970[10]
- A Treasury of Colonial Poetry, Currawong, 1982[11]
- The New Oxford Book of Australian Verse edited by Les Murray, Oxford University Press, 1986[12]
- Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O’Connor, Oxford University Press, 1988[13]
- The Poet's Discovery : Nineteenth Century Australia in Verse edited by Richard Douglas Jordan and Peter Pierce, Melbourne University Press, 1990[14]
- The Penguin Book of 19th Century Australian Literature edited by Michael Ackland, Penguin, 1993[15]
- Classic Australian Verse edited by Maggie Pinkney, Five Mile Press, 2001[16]
- Our Country : Classic Australian Poetry : From Colonial Ballads to Paterson & Lawson edited by Michael Cook, Little Hills Press, 2002[17]
- An Anthology of Australian Poetry to 1920 edited by John Kinsella, University of Western Australia Library, 2007[18]
- Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell, Gary Allen, 2007[19]
- The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Kinsella, Penguin, 2009[20]
- 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[21]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Austlit — "Kangaroo" by Barron Field". Austlit. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "First Fruits of Australian Poetry by Barron Field". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- 1 2 The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, 1986, p259. Accessed: 14 February 2026
- ↑ The Oxford Literary History of Australia edited by Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Strauss, 1st edition, 1998, p28. Accessed: 14 February 2026
- ↑ The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry edited by Ann Vikery, Cambridge University Press, 2024, "Chapter 4: Above and Below : Sublime and Gothic Relations in Australian Poetry" by Michael Farrell, pp. 77-88. Accessed: 14 February 2026
- ↑ "Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales edited by Barron Field". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ ""The Kangaroo"". The Gleaner. 26 April 1827. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "An Animal Anthology edited by Hal Missingham". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Legend of the Coming of the First Kangaroo by Lindsay A. Dane and Barron Field". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Bards in the Wilderness edited by Adrian Mitchell and Brian Elliott". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "A Treasury of Colonial Poetry (Currawong)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "The New Oxford Book of Australian Verse edited by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O'Connor". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Poet's Discovery : Nineteenth Century Australia in Verse (MUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Penguin Book of 19th Century Australian Literature edited by Michael Ackland". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Classic Australian Verse edited by Maggie Pinkney". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Our Country : Classic Australian Poetry edited by Michael Cook". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "An Anthology of Australian Poetry to 1920 edited by John Kinsella". Austlit. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Kinsella". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "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 14 February 2026.