The Poems of Patrick White

Abstract

In the extensive discussion that has taken place on Patrick White's work, virtually no attention has been given to his poems. Doubtless, there are several reasons for this. Firstly, the poems are not easily available. The Ploughman and Other Poems, with which I am concerned here, was published in 1935 by the Beacon Press, Sydney, in a limited edition of 300 numbered copies only, with no further issue. Two of the poems were anthologiLed by G. Mackaness in his Poets of Australia which was issued by Angus F, Robertson in 1946, gaining for these poems a wider audience; but this anthology is now of limited availability. An earlier collection of White's poems is harder still to obtain, though a copy is held in the Fisher Library, University of Sydney. Also, the attitude of the author himself has discouraged attention to his poems. Apart from the fact that he has not cared to have them reissued, Patrick White seems glad to pass over his poems in silence.