South of My Days

{{Infobox poem

| name = "South of My Days"

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| subtitle =

| author = Judith Wright

| original_title =

| original_title_lang =

| translator =

| written = 1945

| first = The Bulletin

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = Australia

| language = English

| series =

| subject =

| genre =

| form =

| meter =

| rhyme =

| publisher =

| publication_date = 8 August 1945

| publication_date_en =

| media_type =

| lines =

| pages =

| size_weight =

| isbn =

| oclc =

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

| wikisource =

}}

"South of My Days" (1945) is a poem by Australian poet Judith Wright.{{cite web|title= Austlit — "South of My Days" by Judith Wright |publisher= Austlit|url= https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C15167|access-date= 23 September 2024}}

It was originally published in The Bulletin on 8 August 1945,{{cite web|title="South of My Days" |publisher= The Bulletin, 8 August 1945, p2 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-547454381|access-date= 23 September 2024}} and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.

The poem depicts a landscape of desolation and isolation, both physical and emotional.

Critical reception

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature notes that this poem established Wright "as the poet of the New England countryside." The entry points out it reflects the countryside where Wright was born and that it also contains "fragments of stories from that countryside's pioneer past — drovers and bushrangers, desperate droughts and starving cattle, and the legendary coaches of Cobb & Co."The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, p639

The Oxford Literary History of Australia stated that with this poem "Wright exceeds even the cultural confidence of other scions of squatting families, fusing an Australian landscape with her own past and with her own body."The Oxford Literary History of Australia edited by Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Strauss, 1st edition, p226

Publication history

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

Australian Poetry 1945 edited by Kenneth Slessor, 1946{{cite web|title= Australian Poetry 1945|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4811565 |access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Poets of Australia : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by George Mackaness, Angus & Robertson, 1946{{cite web|title= Poets of Australia : An Anthology of Australian Verse (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/746291|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
The Moving Image by Judith Wright, Meanjin Press, 1946
New Song in an Old Land edited by Rex Ingamells, Longmans Green, 1948{{cite web|title= New Song in an Old Land (Longmans Green) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/681697|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by George Mackaness, Angus & Robertson, 1952{{cite web|title= An Anthology of Australian Verse (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2138206|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
The Boomerang Book of Australian Poetry edited by Enid Moodie Heddle, Longmans Green, 1956{{cite web|title= The Boomerang Book of Australian Poetry (Longmans, Green) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/859921|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1957{{cite web|title= New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse (OUP) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2423901|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
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 (Penguin) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2259122|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Five Senses : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1963{{cite web|title= Five Senses : Selected Poems (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1805955|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Judith Wright : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1963
Six Voices : Contemporary Australian Poets edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb, Angus and Robertson, 1963{{cite web|title= Six Voices : Contemporary Australian Poets (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/724125|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Modern Australian Verse edited by Douglas Stewart, Angus and Robertson, 1964{{cite web|title= Modern Australian Verse (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/711618|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Judith Wright : Collected Poems, 1942-1970 by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1971{{cite web|title= Judith Wright : Collected Poems, 1942-1970 (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2655308|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine, Penguin Books, 1972{{cite web|title= The Penguin Book of Australian Verse (Penguin) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1904539|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, 1976{{cite web|title= Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum (Rigby) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/696597|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb, Melbourne University Press, 1980{{cite web|title= The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry (MUP) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1325604|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer, Lansdowne, 1985{{cite web|title= My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years (Lansdowne) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1700830|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O’Connor, Oxford University Press, 1988{{cite web|title= Two Centuries of Australian Poetry (OUP) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/342477|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
A Human Pattern : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1990{{cite web|title= A Human Pattern : Selected Poems (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1377981|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
A Treasury of Bush Verse edited by G. A. Wilkes, Angus and Robertson, 1991{{cite web|title= A Treasury of Bush Verse (A&R) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3007113|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell, Gary Allen, 2007
Grace and Other Poems by Judith Wright, Picaro Press, 2009{{cite web|title= Grace and Other Poems (Picaro) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4967886|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore, and Elizabeth Webby, Allen and Unwin, 2009{{cite web|title= Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature (A&U) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4546160|access-date= 23 September 2024}}
Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011{{cite web|title= Australian Poetry Since 1788 (UNSW Press) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4976513|access-date= 23 September 2024}}

Notes

The full text of the poem is also available at the "All Poetry" website.{{cite web|title="South of My Days by Judith Wright" |publisher= All Poetry|url=https://allpoetry.com/South-Of-My-Days|access-date= 23 September 2024}}

References

Category:1945 poems

Category:Poetry by Judith Wright

Category:Works originally published in The Bulletin (Australian periodical)

South of My Days

Critical reception

Publication history

See also

Notes

References