Death of a Whale
{{Short description|1954 poem by John Blight}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox poem
|name = "Death of a Whale"
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|author = John Blight
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|country = Australia
|language = English
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|publisher = The Bulletin, 7 April 1954
|publication_date = 1954
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"Death of a Whale" is a poem by Australian poet John Blight.{{cite web|title= "Death of a Whale" by John Blight|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C272806|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 7 April 1954{{cite web|title="Death of a Whale" |publisher= The Bulletin, 7 April 1954, p2|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-527763739 |access-date= 8 March 2025}} and later in two of the author's poetry collections and a number of other Australian poetry anthologies.
Outline
The poem compares the death of a whale on reef with that of a mouse and wonders if the level of human compassion is determined by the size and/or proximity of a dead animal. Are those that go to see the whale carcase drawn by idle curiosity of a spectacle, or by grief?
Critical reception
In his commentary on the poem in 60 Classic Australian Poems Geoff Page noted "like most good poems, Blight's sonnet raises more questions than it answers..there is little doubt that 'Death of a Whale' is a masterful sonnet"60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009, pp 91-94
Further publications
After its initial publication in The Bulletin in 1954 the poem was reprinted as follows:
- Australian Poetry 1954 edited by Ronald McCuaig, Angus and Robertson, 1954{{cite web|title= Australian Poetry 1954 edited by Ronald McCuaig|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4811533 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by John Thompson, Kenneth Slessor and R. G. Howarth, Penguin Books, 1958{{cite web|title= The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by John Thompson, Kenneth Slessor and R. G. Howarth |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2259122|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- A Beachcomber's Diary : Ninety Sea Sonnets by John Blight, Angus and Robertson, 1963{{cite web|title= A Beachcomber's Diary : Ninety Sea Sonnets by John Blight|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/795925 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine, Penguin Books, 1972{{cite web|title= The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1904539|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, Rigby, 1976{{cite web|title= Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/696597|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- Selected Poems, 1939-1975 by John Blight, Nelson, 1976{{cite web|title= Selected Poems, 1939-1975 by John Blight|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3913841 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- What's Yours? : An Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by Alvie Egan, Victorian Foundation on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, 1977{{cite web|title= What's Yours? : An Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by Alvie Egan|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1046044 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall, Collins, 1981{{cite web|title= The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1593917|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984{{cite web|title= Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2386981|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984{{cite web|title= The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2690249|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O’Connor, Oxford University Press, 1988{{cite web|title= Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O'Connor |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/342477|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry edited by John Tranter and Philip Mead, Penguin, 1991{{cite web|title= The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry (Penguin) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2950597|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- Selected Poems 1939-1990 by John Blight, University of Queensland Press, 1992{{cite web|title= Selected Poems 1939-1990 by John Blight|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2172818 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- 50 Years of Queensland Poetry : 1940s to 1990s edited by Philip Neilsen and Helen Horton, Central Queensland University Press, 1998{{cite web|title= 50 Years of Queensland Poetry : 1940s to 1990s edited by Philip Neilsen and Helen Horton|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/350715 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- The Indigo Book of Modern Australian Sonnets edited by Geoff Page, Indigo, 2003{{cite web|title= The Indigo Book of Modern Australian Sonnets edited by Geoff Page |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1060633 |access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant, 2008{{cite web|title= 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4465705|access-date= 8 March 2025}}
- 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009{{cite web|title= 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4462573|access-date= 2 January 2025}}
- Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011{{cite web|title= Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4976513|access-date= 8 March 2025}}