A Bushman's Song

"A Bushman's Song"
by A. B. Paterson
Original titleTravelling Down the Castlereagh
Written1892
First published inThe Bulletin
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Publication date24 December 1892
Full text
A Bushman's Song at Wikisource

"A Bushman's Song" (1892) is a poem by Australian poet A. B. Paterson.[1]

It was originally published in The Bulletin on 24 December 1892, with the title "Travelling Down the Castlereagh", and subsequently reprinted in a collection of the author's poems, other newspapers and periodicals and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.[1]

Critical reception

While reviewing the poet's collection The Man From Snowy Rover and Other Verses a reviewer in The Sydney Morning Herald noted: "In poems such as 'The Travelling Post-office,' 'Clancy of the Overflow,' 'On Kiley's Run,' 'Black Swans,' 'In the Droving Days,' 'A Bushman's Song,' 'The 'Wind's Message,' 'The Daylight is Dying,' and a few others, one finds the authentic transcript of the moods of inland Australia, the life of her people, and sometimes in their own words."[2]

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states: "In 'A Bushman's Song' [Paterson] is the radical, putting the case for the ordinary drover and shearer against the squatter and the absentee landlord."[3]

Publication history

After the poem's initial publication in The Bulletin it was reprinted as follows:

  • The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, 1895
  • The Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson : Containing 'The Man from Snowy River', 'Rio Grande' and 'Saltbush Bill, M.P.', 1921[4]
  • The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse edited by Walter Murdoch, 1924 [Note: not included in 1918 edition.]
  • New Song in an Old Land edited by Rex Ingamells, 1943[5]
  • Spoils of Time : Some Poems of the English Speaking Peoples edited by Rex Ingamells, 1948[6]
  • The Bulletin 11 May 1955, with the title "Travelling Down the Castlereagh"
  • The Boomerang Book of Australian Poetry edited by Enid Moodie Heddle, 1956[7]
  • Favourite Australian Poems edited by Ian Mudie, Rigby, 1963[8]
  • The Penguin Australian Song Book edited by J. S. Manifold, 1964[9]
  • From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore, Angus & Robertson, 1964[10]
  • Folk Songs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them edited by John Meredith and Hugh Anderson, 1967[11]
  • The Overlander Songbook edited by Ronald George Edwards, 1971[12]
  • Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, 1976[13]
  • Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900 edited by Rosamund Campbell and Philippa Harvie, 1983[14]
  • Duke of the Outback : The Adventures of "A Shearer Named Tritton" by Duke Tritton and John Meredith[15]
  • The Bushwackers Australian Song Book edited by Jan Wositzky and Dobe Newton, 1988[16]
  • A Treasury of Bush Verse edited by G. A. Wilkes, 1991[17]
  • Selected Poems : A. B. Paterson edited by Les Murray, 1992[18]
  • A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Bush Ballads, Poems, Stories and Journalism edited by Clement Semmler, 1992[19]
  • The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads edited by Elizabeth Webby and Philip Butterss, Penguin, 1993[20]
  • Banjo Paterson : His Poetry and Prose edited by Richard Hall, 1993[21]
  • The Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson edited by Clement Semmler, 1993[22]
  • Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard, Melbourne University Press, 1998[23]
  • Classic Australian Verse edited by Maggie Pinkney, Five Mile Press, 2001[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Austlit — "A Bushman's Song" by A. B. Paterson". Austlit. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  2. ^ ""Current Literature"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 October 1895, p4. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  3. ^ The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, p550
  4. ^ "Austlit — The Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson, 1921". Austlit. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  5. ^ "New Song in an Old Land (Longmans, Green)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Spoils of Time : Some Poems of the English Speaking Peoples (Georgian House)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  7. ^ "The Boomerang Book of Australian Poetry (Longmans, Green)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  8. ^ "Favourite Australian Poems (Rigby)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  9. ^ "The Penguin Australian Song Book (Penguin Books)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  10. ^ "From the Ballads to Brennan (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Folk Songs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them (Ure Smith)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  12. ^ "The Overlander Songbook (publisher)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  13. ^ "Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum (Rigby)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  14. ^ "Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900 (Lansdowne)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  15. ^ "Duke of the Outback : The Adventures of "A Shearer Named Tritton" (publisher)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  16. ^ "The Bushwackers Australian Song Book (Sphere)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  17. ^ "A Treasury of Bush Verse (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Selected Poems : A. B. Paterson (A&R)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  19. ^ "A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Bush Ballads, Poems, Stories and Journalism (UQP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  20. ^ "The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads (Penguin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  21. ^ "Banjo Paterson : His Poetry and Prose (Allen & Unwin)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  22. ^ "The Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson (Viking O'Neill)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  23. ^ "Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology (MUP)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  24. ^ "Classic Australian Verse (Five Mile Press)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2023.