MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Discussion of any bush poetry topic.
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Maureen K Clifford
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MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Maureen K Clifford » Fri Sep 09, 2011 8:24 am

Came across this in the Sydney Morning Herald written by Tim Barlass and thought it was interesting as it touches on the subject much discussed here on forum
Jack Thompson is determined to keep alive Australia's voices of the bush. And he is having some success. The actor has just recorded his first DVD of bush poetry after his readings on CD sold more than 50,000 copies.

Speaking from the Darwin Festival last week, where he gave a reading, he said: ''I was floored when they told me. Within two months of the release of the bush poems of Banjo Paterson it was in the top-selling CDs in Australia - that's all music, that's rock 'n' roll, classical and everything. Eat your heart out, Gaga. Look out Gaga, here comes Banjo Paterson.''

Thompson, 70, is a familiar hand whose films include The Man From Snowy River and Baz Lurhmann's Australia, but he admits to some apprehension when recording his DVD. ''I was a bit nervous at first but it was great because, as any actor knows, being live is the actor's medium because you get this wonderful response from the audience - at least you hope you do. And we did - they laughed, there were 'oohs' and 'aahs'.''

He is confident the works of Paterson and Henry Lawson will survive. ''I don't think there's any doubt they can - it's a bit like some music, it just carries on. It still has the same appeal. If you bring these poems to life, and they do come to life when they are read aloud because they were initially meant to be read aloud, I think they survive the changes of fashion of generations very well.''
He is often affected by the emotion in some of the poems written almost a century ago.

''There is a Lawson that really got to me - it's called After All and it is a poem that he wrote when he was about 28 to try and persuade his fiancee, Bertha, to marry him. There is something about it, this very shy young man and troubled young man that Lawson was. He was profoundly deaf from the age of 14. His reassurance to this young woman, he felt that life was after all worth living. It's a really beautiful piece.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/mus ... z1XOzmsp7N
Check out The Scribbly Bark Poets blog site here -
http://scribblybarkpoetry.blogspot.com.au/


I may not always succeed in making a difference, but I will go to my grave knowing I at least tried.

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Zondrae
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Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Zondrae » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:35 pm

Thanks Maureen,

Sorry we didn't take the route that would have led us to your place. Maybe next time. Now that the driver has seen how easy t is to get UP there, the sky is the limit.

Thanks for drawing to my attention a Lawson poem that I am not familiar with. I will have to hunt it out. It probably is laying on my bookshelf waiting for me to come looking for it. Some people talk down Jack Thompson for recodring the masters poetry. Mainly because he is making money on someone elses talent. However, anyone who brings people looking for rhymng verse, to hear and read, is doing a good thing (in mho).
Zondrae King
a woman of words

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Maureen K Clifford
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Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Maureen K Clifford » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:41 pm

The door will always be open Zondrae - so as you say maybe next time - Glad you had a good time - it certainly seemed action packed

Here it is Zondrae


After All





The brooding ghosts of Australian night have gone from the bush and town;
My spirit revives in the morning breeze,
though it died when the sun went down;
The river is high and the stream is strong,
and the grass is green and tall,
And I fain would think that this world of ours is a good world after all.

The light of passion in dreamy eyes, and a page of truth well read,
The glorious thrill in a heart grown cold of the spirit I thought was dead,
A song that goes to a comrade's heart, and a tear of pride let fall --
And my soul is strong! and the world to me is a grand world after all!

Let our enemies go by their old dull tracks,
and theirs be the fault or shame
(The man is bitter against the world who has only himself to blame);
Let the darkest side of the past be dark, and only the good recall;
For I must believe that the world, my dear, is a kind world after all.

It well may be that I saw too plain, and it may be I was blind;
But I'll keep my face to the dawning light,
though the devil may stand behind!
Though the devil may stand behind my back, I'll not see his shadow fall,
But read the signs in the morning stars of a good world after all.

Rest, for your eyes are weary, girl -- you have driven the worst away --
The ghost of the man that I might have been is gone from my heart to-day;
We'll live for life and the best it brings till our twilight shadows fall;
My heart grows brave, and the world, my girl, is a good world after all.



Not bad I reckon :lol: :lol:
Check out The Scribbly Bark Poets blog site here -
http://scribblybarkpoetry.blogspot.com.au/


I may not always succeed in making a difference, but I will go to my grave knowing I at least tried.

Heather

Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Heather » Fri Sep 09, 2011 6:22 pm

Has anyone noticed that the theme of "the man that might have been" pops up over and over in Lawson's poems?

Mabye we should all become actors! ;)

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Bob Pacey
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Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Bob Pacey » Fri Sep 09, 2011 6:43 pm

Not a big fan of Jack Thompson !!!


Does that make me un Australian ?

Bob
The purpose in life is to have fun.
After you grasp that everything else seems insignificant !!!

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Maureen K Clifford
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Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Maureen K Clifford » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:56 am

No but a sour grape sprung to mind :lol: :lol: :lol: Like him or not a lot of people relate to him as a typical ;) 'Australian" and he is doing his bit to keep the myth alive
Check out The Scribbly Bark Poets blog site here -
http://scribblybarkpoetry.blogspot.com.au/


I may not always succeed in making a difference, but I will go to my grave knowing I at least tried.

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Bob Pacey
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Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Bob Pacey » Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:17 pm

See that's what happens all too often. As soon as you say you do not like someone or the way they perform it is assumed to be sour grapes more particulary if they are successful.

I guess sometimes it is just better to not say anything !!! NOT GONNA HAPPEN. :lol: :lol: :lol:


Bob
The purpose in life is to have fun.
After you grasp that everything else seems insignificant !!!

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Re: MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

Post by Bob Pacey » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:30 pm

Whats a verty ??? Martin !!!


Roberto
The purpose in life is to have fun.
After you grasp that everything else seems insignificant !!!

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