Jerusalem daybook

by James K. Baxter

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

Published January 1, 1971

About the author

James Keir Baxter was a poet, and is a celebrated figure in New Zealand society.

In his critical study Lives of the Poets, Michael Schmidt defines Baxter's 'Jacobean consonantal rhetoric'.Schmidt has claimed that Baxter was 'one of the most precocious poets of the century' whose neglect outside of New Zealand is baffling. His writing was affected by his alcoholism. His work drew upon Dylan Thomas and Yeats; then on MacNeice and Lowell. Michael Schmidt identifies 'an amalgam of Hopkins, Thomas and native atavisms' in Baxter's 'Prelude N.Z.

Reviews

[David Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this slim mainly prose volume, New Zealand's greatest poet opines on his life and outlook at the Jerusalem commune on the Whanganui River, during what turned out to be his final years. A laid-back version of Catholicism influenced by the Maori world in which the commune existed, it is well expounded and interspersed with a few poems that showcase just how brilliant Baxter was. Compelling as they are, the poems aren't quite up there with his best work, possibly because setting-wise, they are limited to the Jerusalem area. Things like the river and mist in the bush-clad hills still strike home, but my favourite Baxter poems are set on beaches or beholding mountains. Baxter often defends the commune from accusations by outsiders that it was a den of drug-taking and free love. That it was free of the latter has been disputed by some former members of the commune.

[Strong Extraordinary Dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the same way that he broke his poetry down to simple forms, divested of polish, this book is - really - a collection of christian thought broken down in the same way. Simple christian ideas bounded intimately to everyday occurrences around the Jerusalem community.

A bit much Jesus for me, really - and I'm kinda tolerant - but a lovely, simple book all the same.