Henry Kendall: The Muse of Australia Edited by Russell McDougall

The book reprints essays by Donovan Clark, A.D. Hope, A.C.W. Mitchell and Elizabeth Perkins. New essays are by John Ryan, Carmel Gaffney, Ken Stewart, Michael Ackland, Robert Dingley and Peter Otto. They shed new light on Kendall's biography, literary reception and contribution to Australian literary culture.

Henry Kendall: The Muse of Australia is the most comprehensive book of Kendall's own journalism from various sources, most of which has bever before been collected. It contains Kendall's complete satiricial prose and poetry from Humbug. Nearly half of this book is original material by Kendall not available outside manuscript libraries.

Humbug

From the lap and embrace of Dolores,
From wooing of women, and wine,
We come where the King we adore is -
Sweet Humbug, we come to thy shrine!
Where the lords of the nation have bended,
Where the priests of the people have place,
O, god of the mean and the splendid,
For us is there place?

We are wearied of loving and lyrics;
We have sickness of singing and song,
Of Passion and Passion's hysterics -
Ah, let us be one of thy throng!
Our lips have lost relish of honey;
We are fain of thee, Humbug, and fain
Of thy goodly-sewn garments and money,
And cunning chicane.

All thine is the earth with its people;
The chiefs of the council are thine;
And they who speak under the steeple;
And they who talk over the wine.
Thou hast set thy right hand on the youngest,
And the oldest whose hair has uncurled;
The weakest is thine, and the strongest,
Thou lord of the world!

Thou art sinister, subtle, and evil;
Thou art hollow, and empty, and dry:
Thy name is the name of the devil;
And thy life is a marvellous lie.
Thou hast painted thy face with fair colours;
Thou hast hidden the clay of thy feet;
But O god of the guineas and dollars,
Thy service is sweet!

 

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Created by Lindsay Rowlands Revised 22 June, 2001 Contact fplunket@pobox.une.edu.au