How Do the Life Experiences of Australian Bush Poets Affect Their Poetry? Use Banjo Patterson and Dorothea Mackellar as Evidence

How Do the Life Experiences of Australian Bush Poets Affect Their Poetry? Use Banjo Patterson and Dorothea Mackellar as Evidence

  • Submitted By: jasperbell96
  • Date Submitted: 09/04/2010 12:41 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1116
  • Page: 5
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Question 3:
Looking at the bush poets studied, say how you believe their life experience is expressed in their poetry.

Throughout Australian bush poetry, there have been many famous and influential poets. Of these, two of the most famous are Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson and Dorothea Mackellar. Their individual experiences greatly affected not only the styles of their poetry but also the subject matter. This essay will provide evidence from each of these poet's major works to support the notion that their lifestyles were a great impact on both style and content of their work. The poetic works used will be Paterson's Clancy of the Overflow and The Man From Snowy River and Dorothea Mackellar's My Country

Andrew Barton Paterson, (“Banjo” or “Barty” to his friends), started his life on a property called Narambla near Orange, New South Wales. He was the eldest of 7 children and, son of Andrew Bogle Paterson and Rose Isabella Barton who were both graziers. Paterson's education started when he was schooled by a governess on his property and soon after moved to a “bush school” on Binalong. When Banjo turned 10, he started attending Sydney Grammar School. At just 16 years of age, he left school and went to work for a solicitors firm where his interest in law developed further and after working for this firm, started his own partnership called Street and Paterson. It was during this time that he first started to write verse in local newspapers “The Bulletin” and “Sydney Mail”.When Paterson started writing this material, it was under the pseudonym “Banjo” (after a favourite racehorse) or simply “B”. Paterson went on to become a war correspondent during various wars and for a number of newspapers but by this time, all of his major poetic works had already been written.

Clancy of the Overflow is a poem comparing Banjo Paterson's life with that of Clancy who Banjo feels lives an ideal lifestyle. Banjo clearly expresses his feeling about being stuck in a “dingy...

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