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Michael Dransfield Collected Poems Edited by Rodney Hall. University of Queensland Press 1987. Southerly Volume 48. No 4. 1988.
When Michael Dransfiled died on Good Friday, 1973 at the age of 24 he had already published three collections of poetry and established a reputation as one of the most successful and popular of the new wave of young Australian poets who had emerged in the late 1960s. Since his death a further four collections have appeared, culminating in the Collected Poems (UQP 1987). When one considers Dransfield’s rapid rise to prominence, together with the attention focused on his lifestyle and the tragedy of his early death, it was almost inevitable that, to some extent, his life would come to overshadow his poetry. In fact, in the fifteen years since his death, the ‘Dransfield myth’, together with the decline in fashionably of the romanticism at the heart of much of his poetic imagery, has meant that his reputation as a poet has been attacked by a number of critics. In such a context, the publication in one volume of all of Dransfield’s published work, provides us with the opportunity to review his overall achievement and, hopefully, to reach a more realistic assessment of his work. Keep Reading
A staggering talent, and one exposed to a great deal of resentment by the small of spirit. Robert Gray's deliberate snub of this pivotal figure in his role as editor of the latest "complete" anthology is merely the last in a long line.
Hi Justin
Completely agree. Mike Ladd made exactly this point in his review of the Gray/Lehmann anthology a month or so ago in Spectrum (SMW). I have't been able to find the review on line but I did comment on it at the time...
http://rochfordstreetreview.com/2011/12/02/comments-on-mike-ladds-r...
Geoff Lehmann was a mate of Dransfield's, wasn't he? Seems time cures all things......
Funny I can't imagine Dransfield hanging with Lehmann - Adamson, Nigel Roberts yes...but Mr Lehmann....not really
I just seem to remember one of his poems being dedicated to Lehmann, but it could have been ironic.
Hi Justin - you made me go back and flick through the Collected Poems. Couldn't find one dedicated to Lehmann. 'Springsong' from Memoirs of a Velvet Urinal was dedicated to Geoffrey Dutton. There are dedications to Bob Adamson, Kris Hememsley and Charles Buckmaster among others - but I could find a dedication to Lehmann. Maybe he is mentioned in the body of a poem?
Probably just my failing memory. I guess Buckmaster got left out of this "complete" anthology as well?
Dransfield should have been in the new L/G anthology, surely. As for his mates on the more conservative side of Aus po, he got on with A.D Hope (!), and Tom Shapcott. I can't see Lehmann or Gray having a deep affection for Dransfield's poetry now because there is something anti-romantic in their tastes. Let's remember though, that Dransfield was deeply attracted to the idea of the poetry of pastoral paradise, as Lehmann was with his takes on the Roman poets.
If anyone wants to comment on this I wrote a review of Patricia Dobrez's biography of Dransfield:
http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-March-2000/...
Adam - yes your review of the Dobrez biography is one of the better reviews of the book. And you are corerct to draw the connection between Lehmann's Roman poems and Dransfield's pastoral vission....though I'm sure Lehmann would agree!. Tranter has joined the debate on the G/L anthology now as well
http://johntranter.net/journal/2012/02/the-gray-and-lehmann-death-s...
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