The Orange Tree
{{Short description|Poem by John Shaw Neilson}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox poem
|name = "The Orange Tree"
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|author = John Shaw Neilson
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|first = The Bookfellow, 15 February 1921
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|country = Australia
|language = English
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|publication_date = 1921
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|lines = 40
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|wikisource = The Orange Tree
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"The Orange Tree" is a poem by Australian poet John Shaw Neilson.{{cite web|title= "The Orange Tree" by John Shaw Neilson |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C169993|access-date= 26 November 2024}} It was first published in The Bookfellow on 15 February 1921, and later in the poet's collections and other Australian poetry anthologies.
Outline
A young girl is in conversation with the narrator of the poem and discuss the light that is "not of the sky" that lies within the orange grove they see.
Analysis
The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states that the poem was "inspired by the beauty of the orange groves at Merbein near Mildura in the Murray River irrigration area". It goes on to note that the poem "has sometimes been interpreted as youth's innate understanding of the natural beauty of life".The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, p535
A writer in The Cambridge History of Australian Literature described the poem as "symbolism with its sleeves rolled up".The Cambridge History of Australian Literature edited by Peter Pierce, 1st edition, p206
Further publications
- An Australasian Anthology : Australian and New Zealand Poems edited by Percival Serle, R. H. Croll, and Frank Wilmot, Collins, 1927{{cite web|title= An Australasian Anthology : Australian and New Zealand Poems edited by Percival Serle, R. H. Croll, and Frank Wilmot|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2050278 |access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- Collected Poems of John Shaw Neilson edited by R. H. Croll, Lothian, 1934{{cite web|title= Collected Poems of John Shaw Neilson edited by R. H. Croll|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1992879 |access-date= 26 November 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= 26 November 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= 26 November 2024}}
- A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1956{{cite web|title= A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1713630|access-date= 26 November 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 edited by Judith Wright |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2423901|access-date= 26 November 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 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= 26 November 2024}}
- From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore, Angus & Robertson, 1964{{cite web|title= From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2161782|access-date= 26 November 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= 26 November 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 edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1325604|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- 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= 26 November 2024}}
- The World's Contracted Thus edited by J. A. McKenzie and J. K. McKenzie, Heinemann Education, 1983{{cite web|title= The World's Contracted Thus edited by J. A. McKenzie and J. K. McKenzie |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2402102 |access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- 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= 26 November 2024}}
- 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= 26 November 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= 26 November 2024}}
- The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Ken L. Goodwin and Alan Lawson, Macmillan, 1990{{cite web|title= The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Ken L. Goodwin and Alan Lawson |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/906621 |access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- The Faber Book of Modern Australian Verse edited by Vincent Buckley, Faber, 1991{{cite web|title= The Faber Book of Modern Australian Verse edited by Vincent Buckley|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1108162|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- Selected Poems by John Shaw Neilson, Angus and Robertson, 1993{{cite web|title= Selected Poems by John Shaw Neilson|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2586651 |access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, State Library of NSW Press, 1996{{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/2818757|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard, Oxford University Press, 1998{{cite web|title= Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1808555|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- Our Country : Classic Australian Poetry : From Colonial Ballads to Paterson & Lawson edited by Michael Cook, Little Hills Press, 2002{{cite web|title= Our Country : Classic Australian Poetry edited by Michael Cook |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2339836|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- Hell and After : Four Early English-language Poets of Australia edited by Les Murray, Carcanet 2005{{cite web|title= Hell and After : Four Early English-language Poets of Australia by Les Murray|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3525838 |access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- An Anthology of Australian Poetry to 1920 edited by John Kinsella, University of Western Australia Library, 2007{{cite web|title= An Anthology of Australian Poetry to 1920 edited by John Kinsella|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C843482|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant, 2008
- The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Kinsella, Penguin, 2009{{cite web|title= The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Kinsella |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4357050|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- 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= 26 November 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 edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore, and Elizabeth Webby |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4546160|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard, Puncher & Wattmann, 2009{{cite web|title= The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4764695|access-date= 26 November 2024}}
- 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= 26 November 2024}}
- Collected Verse of John Shaw Neilson by John Shaw Neilson, UWA Publishing, 2012{{cite web|title= Collected Verse of John Shaw Neilson by John Shaw Neilson|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/5970584 |access-date= 26 November 2024}}
The poem was also translated into Arabic in 1999.{{cite web|title= "The Orange Tree" by John Shaw neilson|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/AC169993|access-date= 26 November 2024}}