Kenneth Slessor

by Adrian Caesar

Kenneth Slessor has long been hailed as one of Australia's finest and most important poets. But the terms of praise have often echoed Slessor's own aesthetic principles--that poetry transcends social and political issues; that poetry is imbued with magic; that poetry should deal with
'verities' assumed to be 'eternal'. Caesar approaches Slessor's work from a different angle, by re-reading and re-writing aspects of his biography he places both Slessor's life and his work in political and cultural context. He also demonstrates that the conflicts at work in Slessor's life and art
have a relevance to an understanding of Australian society in the first half of this century.

136 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1995

About the author

Adrian Caesar is an Australian author and poet. Born in the United Kingdom, he emigrated to Australia in 1982. He studied at Reading University and has held appointments at various Australian universities, including the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales at Canberra’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Caesar is the author of several books, including the prize-winning non-fiction novel THE WHITE based on the Antarctic exploration of Robert F. Scott and Douglas Mawson from 1911 to 1913. His poems have been widely published and his 2005 poetry collection HIGH WIRE was shortlisted for the 2007 Judith Wright Prize.

Reviews

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

That the poet Kenneth Slessor is a mystery Adrian Caesar states clearly in the introduction - having listed all the commendations that Slessor’s poetry has achieved, Caesar goes on to explain:
“Part of what I wish to do in this book is to look again at the assumptions behind these commendations, not necessarily to diminish Slessor’s achievement or his importance, but rather to understand their nature in ways not previous assayed. After all, despite all this critical work, Slessor, and to some extent his poetry, still presents us with enigmas.”
Caesar goes on to do just that, making the reader aware of the author’s upbringing and influences. Chapter 1 is aptly entitled Beginnings and Caesar considers the influences of his father and mother and also Slessor’s early work - the young man “anxiously expressing his Australian and Imperial allegiances in rather conventional, if well-wrought poems”. Caesar examines several and writes:
“The relationship between art and nature is central to Slessor’s oeuvre, and in “To a Forgotten Portrait” we find an early expression of themes and ideas that were later to form the basis of his greatest poem, “Five Bells”.
Chapter 2 entitled Thieving the Moon looks at not only Slessor’s first collection of poetry Thief of the Moon but the break from his family and his marriage to Noela who was only 16 when they married and five years his junior. The author also explains the distinction between Romanticism and Bohemia and Slessor’s relationship to both and touches on Slessor’s friendship with Norman Lindsay which began around this time.
Chapter 3 In Cuckooz Country begins in 1927 when Slessor joined the staff of Smith’s Weekly. “As Geoffrey Dutton has pointed out, Smith’s Weekly provided Slessor with a stimulating, and for the most part congenial, ambience in which to work.” Caesar argues that although there were tensions in the marriage to Noela, the author believes that they were happier than several other Slessor biographers have depicted. As in the previous chapters Caesar goes in depth, often in a complex way, to understand his subject with a look at Lindsay’s Creative Effort, as well as Slessor’s voyager poems. Tellingly, Caesar states, (writing of Slessor’s poem “Gulliver”),
“We feel the full force of Slessor’s repressions in this poem. The body and its needs confine the artist, who is trapped by existence, and cannot escape into the spiritual realms of Life. Slessor is prevented from celebration, and led to the expression of a death-wish.”
Chapter 4 “All Those ‘Girls’: The light verse, examines the poems that for the most part make up the collections “Darlinghurst Nights” and “Backless Betty”.
In Chapter 5 Five Bells: XX Poems - Moving Towards Silence Caesar opens with:
“After the publication of “Cuckooz Contrey” in 1932 and “Darlinghurst Nights” in 1933, Slessor’s poetic productivity declined very markedly.” Caesar examines the factors behind this decline and the writing - the success of and failure within “Five Bells”.
In the last chapter of this fascinating and scholarly biography - Chapter 6 “Inflections of Silence” Caesar opens with a marvellous sentence: “Sometimes silence intrigues more than speech.” The author looks at this silence from every angle and discusses Slessor’s time as Official War Correspondent. He also briefly touches on Slessor’s affair with Kath McShine and his marriage to Pauline Bowe; wrapping up with where the importance of Slessor’s work lies - internationally and at home. Highly recommended for fans of Kenneth Slessor and Australian poetry.