The Fire at Ross's Farm
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| "The Fire at Ross's Farm" | |
|---|---|
| by Henry Lawson | |
| Written | 1890 |
| First published in | The Bulletin |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publication date | 6 December 1890 |
| Full text | |
 The Fire at Ross's Farm at Wikisource | |
"The Fire at Ross's Farm" (1890) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.[1]
It was originally published in The Bulletin on 6 December 1890[2] and subsequently reprinted in several of the author's other collections, other newspapers and periodicals and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.[1]
Writing about the "Inspiration of the Bush" in Australian verse, a critic in The Brisbane Courier noted that "the most graphic account of a bush-fire ever written is certainly that given in Lawson's 'Fire at Ross's Farm,' which is a masterpiece."[3]
In an essay titled "'As only natives ride': Lawson's Adversity, Private Property and Australian Culture" writer Neil Boyack notes that the poem "catalogues aspects of a romanticised Australian identity: assumed mateship, hardy toughness, hearts of gold, a sense of fairness and adaptation to landscape. But through Lawson's simple, cut-to-the-bone prose and word power he creates harshness, uncertainty and a violence that at once dispels this romance."[4]