Prize-Giving
1959 poem by Gwen Harwood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Prize-Giving" is a 1959 poem by Australian author Gwen Harwood.[1]
| "Prize-Giving" | |
|---|---|
| by Gwen Harwood | |
| First published in | Meanjin, vol. 18 no. 4 December 1959 |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Series | Professor Eisenbart |
| Published in English | 1959 |
It was first published in Meanjin, vol. 18 no. 4 December 1959, and was subsequently reprinted in the author's collections and other poetry anthologies.[1]
The poem forms part of the author's "Professor Eisenbart" series of poems. This professor "has been interpreted as a 'mask' though which the poet expresses certain anarchic or anti-Establishment views and as a persona which allows her to reflect ironically on the human condition."[2]
Synopsis
The poem is set at a prize-giving ceremony at a prestigious girls' school. A number of dignitaries have been invited to present the awards and make speeches; Professor Eisenbart among them.
Critical reception
In his book Reading Australian Poetry Andrew Taylor noted that this poem, like others in the Eisenbart sequence, is largely, a poem of "reversal". Here the "'honoured guest' who has come 'to lend distinction' to a school prizegiving recognizes himself in the poem's final stanza as 'a sage fool'. Age, scholarly excellence, science, maleness — all qualities in Eisenbart's world and, it appears, in the girls' school too, are held to be preeminient – are subverted by youth, intuitive brilliance, art, that is, music, femaleness."[3]
Publication history
After the poem's initial publication in Meanjin[1] it was reprinted as follows:
- Verse in Australia Vol 3, edited by Robert Clark, Geoffrey Dutton and Max Harris, 1960[1]
- Australian Poetry 1960 edited by A. D. Hope, Angus and Robertson, 1960[4]
- Poems by Gwen Harwood, Angus and Robertson, 1963[5]
- Modern Australian Verse edited by Douglas Stewart, Angus and Robertson, 1964[6]
- Australian Writing Today edited by Charles Higham, Penguin, 1968[7]
- A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1968[8]
- Australian Voices : A Collection of Poetry and Pictures edited by Edward Kynaston, Penguin, 1974[9]
- Selected Poems by Gwen Harwood, Angus and Robertson, 1975[10]
- The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall, Collins, 1981[11]
- The Faber Book of Modern Australian Verse edited by Vincent Buckley, Faber, 1991[12]
- The Sting in the Wattle : Australian Satirical Verse edited by Philip Neilsen, University of Queensland Press, 1993[13]
- Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry edited by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden, Oxford University Press, 1996[14]
- 50 Years of Queensland Poetry : 1940s to 1990s edited by Philip Neilsen and Helen Horton, Central Queensland University Press, 1998[15]
- Selected Poems : A New Edition by Gwen Harwood, Angus and Robertson, 2001[16]
- Mappings of the Plane : New Selected Poems by Gwen Harwood, edited by Gregory Kratzmann and Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Fyfield Books, 2009[17]
- The Best 100 Poems of Gwen Harwood, Black Inc., 2014[18]
Notes
- You can read the full text of the poem in Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry edited by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden, Oxford University Press, 1996, on the Internet Archive[19]