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Doubtless: New and Selected Poems
259 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2008
17 people want to read
About the author
Sam Hunt
41 books10 followersSam Hunt is a New Zealand poet, especially known for his public performances of poetry, not only his own poems, but also the poems of many other poets.
Hunt was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland which he attended from 1958-63.
Hunt was among the younger New Zealand poets who began to be published in the late 1960s. He was first published in Landfall in 1967.
Hunt's distinctive appearance – tall and thin, usually wearing long, tight, trousers ("Foxton straights" he has called them) with vests and open-chested shirts, with long hair curling wildly above a well-worn face – is complemented by the familiar gravelly drawl, the rhythmic, sometimes staccato and sometimes incantatory quality of his recitation (often tapping his fingers or flicking a hand to emphasise the poetic beat) and the execution of occasional small dance-like steps of concentration. These have all made him one of New Zealand's most recognisable figures. Once, almost as well-known was his long-time travelling companion, the dog Minstrel.
Hunt was awarded a Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1975, and spent 1976 in Dunedin. He was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service in the 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours and in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to poetry.] In 2012 he received a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement.
From Wikipedia (abridged)
Hunt was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland which he attended from 1958-63.
Hunt was among the younger New Zealand poets who began to be published in the late 1960s. He was first published in Landfall in 1967.
Hunt's distinctive appearance – tall and thin, usually wearing long, tight, trousers ("Foxton straights" he has called them) with vests and open-chested shirts, with long hair curling wildly above a well-worn face – is complemented by the familiar gravelly drawl, the rhythmic, sometimes staccato and sometimes incantatory quality of his recitation (often tapping his fingers or flicking a hand to emphasise the poetic beat) and the execution of occasional small dance-like steps of concentration. These have all made him one of New Zealand's most recognisable figures. Once, almost as well-known was his long-time travelling companion, the dog Minstrel.
Hunt was awarded a Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1975, and spent 1976 in Dunedin. He was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service in the 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours and in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to poetry.] In 2012 he received a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement.
From Wikipedia (abridged)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2019
pretty cool writing
A bit too much about death and beaches
Definitely enjoy the structure of
His poems
Amen
A bit too much about death and beaches
Definitely enjoy the structure of
His poems
Amen
September 13, 2018
3.5 stars. After my experiences with the terrible New Zealand poetry chosen for our NCEA English exams I was pretty reluctant to explore the genre further. However, for the most part, I enjoyed Sam Hunt’s poems. The collection starts of with ‘Doubtless’, a long rambling stream of thoughts that incoherently outlines all of Hunt’s worries and realisations: being a father, losing his own father, his friends beginning to pass away, his marriage falling apart and what his life and mortality mean. Personally I found his more personal poems like these more digestible and easier to understand the numerous ones describing country life, his friendships with others or his experiences in places around New Zealand. The poems ‘He was one of the last’ and ‘Working the Genesis week’, with Bible story themes were very witty. I think this is a good choice if you are looking to explore the modern New Zealand Poetry genre and need a starting point.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews