Henry Lawson

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'Henry Lawson'

Henry Lawson, circa 1902
Born June 17, 1867(1867-06-17)
[Grenfell, New South Wales
Died September 2, 1922 (aged 55)
Sydney, Australia
Occupation Author,
Poet
Ballardist
Spouse(s) Bertha Marie Louise Bredt
Children Joseph
Bertha

Henry Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period, and is often called Australia's "greatest short story writer".[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Lawson was born in a town on the Grenfell goldfields of New South Wales. His mother was Louisa Lawson (née Albury), a prominent suffragist and owner/editor of The Dawn journal which was partly responsible for Australia becoming one of the first countries to introduce adult female suffrage. His father was Niels Herzberg Larsen, a Norwegian-born miner who went to sea at 21, arrived in Melbourne in 1855 and joined the gold rush.[2] Larsen travelled to different goldfields, and at Pipeclay (now Eurunderee, New South Wales) met Louisa and married her on 7 July 1866; he was 32 and she, 18. On Henry's birth, the family surname was anglicised and Niels became Peter Lawson. The newly-married couple were to have an unhappy marriage.

Henry Lawson attended school at Eurunderee from 2 October 1876 but suffered an ear infection at around this time that left him with partial deafness and by the age of fourteen he had lost his hearing entirely. He later attended a Catholic school at Mudgee, New South Wales around 8 km away; the master there, Mr. Kevan, would talk to Lawson about poetry. He was a keen reader of Dickens and Marryat and serialised novels such as Robbery under Arms and For the Term of his Natural Life; an aunt had also given him a volume by Bret Harte. Reading became a major source of his education because, due to his deafness, he had trouble learning in the classroom.

In 1883, after working on building jobs with his father and in the Blue Mountains, Lawson joined his mother in Sydney at her request. Louisa was then living with Henry's sister and brother. Lawson studied for his matriculation, but failed.

In 1896, he married Bertha Bredt Jr., daughter of Bertha Bredt, the prominent socialist. They had two children, son Jim (Joseph) and daughter Bertha. However, the marriage ended unhappily.[3]

[edit] Poetry and prose writing

Lawson's first published poem was 'A Song of the Republic' which appeared in The Bulletin, 1 October 1887; his mother's radical friends were an influence. This was followed by 'The Wreck of the Derry Castle' and then 'Golden Gully.'

In 1890-1891 Lawson worked in Albany.[4] He then received an offer to write for the Brisbane Boomerang in 1891, but he lasted only around 7-8 months as the Boomerang was soon in trouble. He returned to Sydney and continued to write for the Bulletin which, in 1892, paid for an inland trip where he experienced the harsh realities of drought-affected New South Wales.[5] This resulted in his contributions to the Bulletin Debate and became a source for many of his stories in subsequent years.[2] Elder writes of the trek Lawson took between Hungerford and Bourke as "the most important trek in Australian literary history" and says that "it confirmed all his prejudices about the Australian bush. Lawson had no romantic illusions about a 'rural idyll'."[6] As Elder continues, his grim view of the outback was far removed from "the romantic idyll of brave horsemen and beautiful scenery depicted in the poetry of 'The Banjo' [Paterson]".[6]

His most successful prose collection is While the Billy Boils, published in 1896.[7] In it he "continued his assault on Paterson and the romantics, and in the process, virtually reinvented Australian realism".[5] Elder writes that "he used short, sharp sentences, with language as raw as Ernest Hemingway or Raymond Carver. With sparse adjectives and honed-to-the-bone description, Lawson created a style and defined Australians: dryly laconic, passionately egalitarian and deeply humane."[5] Most of his work focuses on the Australian bush, such as the desolate "Past Carin'", and is considered by some to be among the first accurate descriptions of Australian life as it was at the time.[citation needed] "The Drover's Wife" with its "heart-breaking depiction of bleakness and loneliness" is regarded as one of his finest short stories.[5] It is regularly studied in schools and has often been adapted for film and theatre.[8][9][10]

Lawson was a firm believer in the merits of the sketch story, commonly known simply as 'the sketch,' claiming that "the sketch story is best of all."[11][12] Lawson's Jack Mitchell story, On The Edge Of A Plain, is often cited as one of the most accomplished examples of the sketch.[12]

Like the majority of Australians, Lawson lived in a city, but had had plenty of experience in outback life, in fact, many of his stories reflected his experiences in real life. In Sydney in 1898 he was a prominent member of the Dawn and Dusk Club, a bohemian club of writer friends who met for drinks and conversation.

[edit] Later years

During his later life, the alcohol-addicted writer was probably Australia's best-known celebrity. At the same time, he was also a frequent beggar on the streets of Sydney, notably at the Circular Quay ferry turnstiles. He was gaoled at Darlinghurst Gaol for drunkenness and non-payment of alimony, and recorded his experience in the haunting poem "One Hundred and Three" - his prison number - which was published in 1908. He refers to the prison as "Starvinghurst Gaol" because of the meagre rations given to the inmates.

On his death, of cerebral haemorrhage, in Abbotsford, Sydney in 1922, he was given a state funeral. It was attended by the Prime Minister W. M. Hughes and the Premier of New South Wales Jack Lang (who was the husband of Lawson's sister-in-law Hilda Bredt), as well as thousands of citizens. He is interred at Waverley Cemetery. Lawson was the first person to be granted a state funeral.[citation needed]

Henry Lawson was featured on the first (paper) Australian ten dollar note issued in 1966 when decimal currency was first introduced into Australia. This note was replaced by a polymer note in 1993. Lawson was pictured against scenes from the town of Gulgong in NSW.[13]

[edit] Collections of Poetry and/or Prose

Lawson's grave at Waverley Cemetery, Sydney
Lawson's grave at Waverley Cemetery, Sydney

[edit] Posthumous Collections

  • A Camp-Fire Yarn: Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900 (1984)
  • A Fantasy of Man: Henry Lawson Complete Works 1901-1922 (1984)
  • The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories (1986)
  • The Songs of Henry Lawson (1989)
  • The Roaring Days (1994) (aka The Henry Lawson Collection Vol. 1)
  • On the Wallaby Track (1994) (aka The Henry Lawson Collection Vol. 2)

[edit] Popular Poems, Short Stories and Sketches

[edit] Recurring Characters

[edit] Recurring Themes of Lawson's Stories

Main article: Themes of Henry Lawson's works

Many of Henry Lawson's short stories explore similar themes:

  • Roles of women
  • Roles of men
  • Roles of children
  • Loneliness / Isolation
  • Hardship
  • Importance of Humour
  • The Emotional Impact of Bush Life
  • Mateship

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Elder (2008) p. 115
  2. ^ a b Brian Matthews (1986). "Lawson, Henry (1867 - 1922)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10 18-22. MUP. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  3. ^ Falkiner (1992), p. 64
  4. ^ Falkiner (1992), p. 62
  5. ^ a b c d Elder (2008) p. 113
  6. ^ a b Elder (2008) p. 95
  7. ^ Falkiner (1992), p. 63
  8. ^ "Multi-media Theatre: The Drover's Wife, Australia
  9. ^ "Keeping bush ballads alive and well"
  10. ^ "The Drover's Wife: Australian film icon"
  11. ^ 'Three or Four Archibalds and the Writer'
  12. ^ a b The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories (First published 1986) Edited with an introduction by John Barnes - Introduction
  13. ^ Museum of Australian Currency Notes Accessed on June 7, 2007

[edit] References

  • Elder, Bruce (2008) "In Lawson's Tracks" in Griffith Review (19): 93-95, 113-115, Autumn 2008
  • Falkiner, Suzanne (1992) Wilderness (The Writers' Landscape), Sydney, Simon and Schuster
  • Serle, Percival (1949). "Lawson, Henry". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 

[edit] External links

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