Childhood influence.

[Neville Briggs]

I have a recently published poetry book which includes a poem by Louisa Lawson called They Are Taking The Old Piano.
Louisa Lawson was Henry Lawson's mother.
It is quite evident I would argue that Louisa Lawson was the major influence on Henry for his poetic passion, and probably his social and political stance. I'm sure he didn't just wake up one morning and decide to be a poet. Right from an early age a seed of poetic thought was planted in him.
I got to thinking about poetic influence on me from years ago and possibly on others of my generation.

A lot of children of my vintage had church-going parents and went to "sunday school " and church. Looking back , I believe that the church teaching and culture had a big influence on my interest in poetry. I have loved poetry and been familiar with it's sound from an early age.
When I was very small my mother taught me to recite at bedtime ;
Gentle Jesus meek and mild
Look upon a little child
Pity my simpicity
Suffer me to come to Thee

Fain I would to thee be brought
Gracious Lord forbid it not
In the Kingdom of thy Grace
Find a little child a place.


Lousy theology, but it stuck with me, I can still say it off by heart.
I had absolutely no idea what " fain I would ' meant.
But the rhythm of the poetry stayed with me to this day.

A few years ago, my grandaughter was ordered to bed by her mother and I mischievously introduced her to;

Tell me a story,
Tell me a story,
Tell me a story before I go to bed.
You promised me, you said you would
You gotta give in, so I'll be good,
Tell me a story before I go to bed.

She loved it. (The grandaughter that is. ),

And even in Sunday School we learnt little doggerel verses.

Welcome, welcome
How do you do.
Welcome welcome
How do you do.
Glad to meet you
Happy to greet you,
Welcome, welcome
How do you do.

Later I had to sit through interminable, tedious ( to my mind then ;utterly boring ) church services. But there I was exposed to the sound and rhythm of the King James Bible and the poetry of the hymns by Fanny Crosby, Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. All these were great poets and songwriters. I can still do some of the words to-day.
( the poetic element of so- called contemporary church songs is abysmal, probably due to the baleful influence of Yank hucksters. )

I still have the sense that the rhythms and speech patterns and expressive modes of those far off years are an influence on me to-day in my own thinking on how to write poetry.

Without delving into irrelevent issues, I think , that experience is something perhaps to-days youth might have lost out on. Maybe.......I could be wrong.

[Neville Briggs]

he had a love of the Bush Poetry that became infectous

That's it isn't it Marty. The influence of a genuine lover of poetry. I have a DVD of that film with Robin Williams, The Dead Poets Society, fantastic movie.

[Heather]

My parents had two records that got me interested in poetry at a very early age. I have borrowed them and have them sitting in front of me right now. Just need to figure out how to play them now! One is "The Sentimental Bloke" spoken by Peter O'Shaughnessy with Doreen, The Play, and others. I especially loved Doreen as a kid and can remember drawl of the reader.

The other record is "The Glorious Years" and it has poems by Adam Lindsay Gordon, Henry Lawson, Geroge Evans, C.J. Dennis and others I've never heard of. I actually don't remember these one but presume I must have heard them. Looks like a book may have accompanied this record.

But the one I remember the most and I don't know where this was recorded, was Said Hanrahan and I still love it today. I wish I knew who recited it.

Likewise, I loved the Nut Cracker suite and other classical music that I heard as a child.

At high school in about form 3 we had to learn a poem to recite to the English class. Such a nerdy thing to do when you are about 14. Most kids learnt the shortest poem they possibly could but I took on "My Country" the full version! (Nerd)

There were other influences. My mother is an avid reader and I became one too. Not poetry but novels. As a child I would read one a day pretty much. I studied literature at school which included a smattering of poetry but not Australian if I recall correctly. There must also be some genetics at play. I have a grt grt uncle who was an author.

Other influences were Rolf Harris - you may laugh but Jake the Peg and Six White Boomers, while not being poetry are quintessentially Australian and a lot of fun for a kid under 10. I remember bouncing around the loungeroom to Six White Boomers! (I was but a child).

Then there is a love of history and a childhood not living in the country and bush but being a regular visitor - to the extent that i thought I was a country kid.

The love of bush poetry seems to always go back to childhood influences.

Thanks for bringing this up Neville. Good memories.

Heather

[Bob Pacey]

I did not really get interested in poetry until my forties. I will admit I always had a way with words although english studies was not my strongest subject.

My favourite was Benny Hill with The fastest Milkcart In The west which i have done so many times at touch football, hockey and other do's with a fella in the background doing the actions sometime a little bit rude. I was always sending my mates up in the end of season booklets for silly things that they had done during the year but I would not have called it poetry. I found one whist going through some old books the other day.

Stuff like this only one verse of it but Tommy won the grand final for us with the winning try and he loved his special song.

Everyone considered he would not make a good touch player
and he'ed never scored a single try to prove that they were wrong
His mother named him Eugene but his mates all called him Tommy
and something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong.

To the tune of Coward of the County

My Auntie Pat got me really interested when i used to visit her after my Dad passed away. She was a bush poet although rather shy about her ability. Through her I found that my Grandmother used to win a lot of Jingle comps for local buisnesses and my uncle also wrote poetry.

Now I'm hooked damm it.

Bob

[Heather]

Benny Hill. We used to watch that too - it was funny at the time, not so sure it would be today. He had the wickedest twinkle in his eye that man.

And Pam Ayres. I remember her in my twenties. Loved her poetry.

A friend brought me back to it as an adult. I have a lot to thank him for.

Heather

[Bob Pacey]

Benny Hill I still watch him on Austar never changes Old Benny still good for a laugh.

Plenty of videos on utube as well and some of Pam Ayres.

Bob

[Maureen K Clifford]

Funny what influences you - this post got me thinking about it because I never really have before. I think some of what Neville has said may have been true for me as well - I grew up with no poetic influences at all that I was aware of other than RE at school, although in my later years around age 50 I discovered that my Grandfather and possibly my Great Grandfather were poets. The uncertainty there is because they both had the same names, so it is just a different style of writing that might mean they both wrote poetry. My Grandfather was a newspaper Editor.

I have written poetry since I was 8 years old according to Mum but there is nothing going back that far as evidence to prove it. At some stage whilst still at school in UK I must have had a teacher who taught us poetry as I can still remember most of the words to G K Chesterton's poem The Donkey

The Donkey

G.K.Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.


I actually wonder if there is a genetic gene comes into play - because one of my nieces is/could be a fine poet were she to practise - she wrote some terrific stuff when she was about 11 but is now in her late 20's and has never put pen to paper since.

[Heather]

What about nursery rhymes? we must all have been influenced by them as children.

[Bob Pacey]

The boy stood on the burning deck maybe ?

Bob

[Peely]

G'day All

For myself, I think it would have been when I was in about year 4 of school when I first remember learning part of a bush poem, CJ Dennis's "The Circus". This was in a period where the teacher that I started with in that year, Mr Thompson, retired and Batlow's school principal, Mr Lockley, was looking after the class before we got our new teacher, Miss Henderson. So Mr Lockley taught the class the poem - we only had to remember a couple of lines each, the way it was recited.

I can remember reading Thomas E Spencer's "How McDougall Topped the Score" and John O'Brien's "Said Hanrahan" with my year 5 teacher, Miss Rowan. It was while I was in this class that I made my first attempt at writing limericks. I also remember writing some longer rhyming poems as well: one about a very bad student who killed teachers and destroyed the school; and another about a goblin that had a taste for some pretty bad foods (various types of what could at best be described as offal). Subjects that were possibly pretty typical of an eleven year old boy.

It was when I reached year 6 that I had a teacher that was really enthusiastic when it came to poetry, Mr McLean. Reading and reciting of poems was something that we did regularly - not necessarily all bush poetry but certainly all rhyming poetry. As far as the non-bush poetry goes, I can remember the class reading Tarantella, learning to recite "The Wind in a Frolic" by William Howitt and learning to recite Doug Macleod's "Granny Appleby" (Australian writer of children's poetry but since his poems aren't necessarily Australia, Australians or Australian way of life they are not necessarily bush). The class learnt to recite "The Man from Snowy River" and I can remember reading other poems by Paterson, Lawson and CJ Dennis.

The fact that my parents bought books of Banjo Paterson's and Henry Lawson's poems and I bought a book of Doug Macleod's poems during this time also helped to fuel my own interest in bush poetry.

Having the influences both at home and at school, I am sure have contributed greatly to my interest in bush poetry.

Regards


John Peel