• Source: Bullocky (Wright poem)

"Bullocky" (1944) is a poem by Australian poet Judith Wright.
It was originally published in The Bulletin on 27 September 1944, and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.
The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states the poem "links the bullock driver in his pioneer role of unlocking the land with Moses, leading his people into the promised land...The poem indicates that the continuing fruitfulness and progress of the coiuntry depend upon the past as much as the present; that Australia of the future will be shaped by its traditions and history."




Critical reception


In reviewing Modern Australian Poetry, edited by H. M. Green, in The Advocate (Melbourne) reviewer "L.M." called the poem "a splendid example of [Wright's] mastery over words and vigorous, unusual imagery."
Critic "E.M.", writing in The Age (Melbourne) about Wright's poetry, stated that the poem "could only have been written by someone who had seen the flickering firelight on a ribbon gum or a candlebark—by one who knew many
nights in the bush...And the poem is ourselves, our country, our life. It is all the memories of autumn camping, and yet it is the past, our fathers' memories too, a mature evocation of the time when the life of the bush moved to a ballad rhythm."




Publication history


After the poem's initial publication in The Bulletin magazine in 1944 it was reprinted as follows:

Australian Poetry 1944 selected by R. G. Howarth, Angus and Robertson, 1945
Poets of Australia : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by George Mackaness, Angus and Robertson, 1946
The Moving Image : Poems by Judith Wright, Meanjin Press, 1946
Modern Australian Poetry edited by H. M. Green, Melbourne University Press, 1952
An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by George Mackaness, Angus & Robertson, 1952
A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1956
New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1957
The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by John Thompson, Kenneth Slessor and R. G. Howarth, Penguin Books, 1958
Five Senses : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1963
Judith Wright : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1963
Six Voices : Contemporary Australian Poets edited by Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Angus and Robertson, 1963
Modern Australian Verse edited by Douglas Stewart, Angus and Robertson, 1964
Silence Into Song : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Clifford O'Brien, Rigby, 1968
A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1968
Judith Wright : Collected Poems, 1942-1970 by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1971
The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine, Penguin Books, 1972
The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall, Collins, 1981
Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984
The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984
A Human Pattern : Selected Poems by Judith Wright, Angus and Robertson, 1990
Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell, Gary Allen, 2007
100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant, 2008
Grace and Other Poems by Judith Wright, Picaro Press, 2009




See also


1944 in Australian literature
1944 in poetry




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Bullocky (Wright poem)
• Judith Wright
• Margaret Sutherland
• Gundagai
• 1944 in Australian literature
• List of years in Australian literature