Norman Lindsay

[Stephen Whiteside]

I am currently reading 'Bohemians of the Bulletin' by Norman Lindsay, and am finding his views on bush poems (he calls them 'folk-lore ballads') very interesting.

Lindsay distinguishes between 'folk-lore ballads' and 'great poetry', but takes the view that the former is a critical step on the path to the latter. He believes that, as a society grows, it will develop great poets/poetry eventually, but not immediately.

Lindsay also talks about how he sees the Australians follow the English in this regard. He also sees Banjo Paterson as providing an important bridge between the two, suggesting he sees Paterson as something more than a 'folk-lore balladist', but something less than a 'great poet'.

He also makes the very interesting (to me) observation that Paterson hung out with 'men of action' rather than other writers/artists, and that his friendship with Lindsay himself had nothing to do with Lindsay's talents as an artist, and everything to do with his talents as a horseman - for Norman Lindsay loved horses.

[Neville Briggs]

That is interesting Stephen. I don't know how much weight you could put on Norman Lindsay's opinions on literature. I have no idea how you could assess them.
He did accomplish one brilliant literary work The Magic Pudding.
If my memory serves me, he also wrote The Age of Consent, but I think that was more of a manifesto to justify the morality ( immorality ? ) of his hedonistic paradigm.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yeah, he wrote a few novels, too - incredibly talented all-rounder, really.

Redheap - based on his childhood in Creswick, Victoria
Dust or Polish - a great read about a young woman who moves away from being a vaudeville dancer to running her own secondhand furniture shop (it's a lot better than it sounds!)
A Curate in Bohemia - this is probably his best known novel, but I have not read it (he seems to like writing about bohemia - no surprise there really, I guess)

[Vic Jefferies]

Many of the Lindsay family were multi talented (there were ten children) and among many other talents Norman was also a boxer!

Couldn't agree more with his quoted statement:
"Lindsay distinguishes between 'folk-lore ballads' and 'great poetry', but takes the view that the former is a critical step on the path to the latter. He believes that, as a society grows, it will develop great poets/poetry eventually, but not immediately.
Lindsay also talks about how he sees the Australians follow the English in this regard. He also sees Banjo Paterson as providing an important bridge between the two, suggesting he sees Paterson as something more than a 'folk-lore balladist', but something less than a 'great poet'."

I have been expressing the opinion for years that what "we" write could now be better described as "folk poetry." Few of us have direct connection with the bush and many of our poems deal with subjects not related to bush life.