My Army O My Army And Other Songs

Henry Lawson's poems narrate the rawness of life in the Australian bush between the late 19th and early 20th century, among humble herdsmen, sheep shearers and itinerant labourers, the compassion for the fates of others, the active solidarity, the austerity of the situations in which women and children live at the mercy of an impervious landscape. Lawson portrays them with great empathy and is able to capture the strenuous struggle to survive in a hostile world and the courage to face the unknown. "My Army, O, My Army" is one collection of his poems.

Henry Lawson (1867-1922) was an Australian writer and poet. He is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period. Lawson was born in a town on the Grenfell goldfields of New South Wales. He attended school at Eurunderee from 1876 but suffered an ear infection at around this time that left him with partial deafness and by the age of fourteen he had lost his hearing entirely. He later attended a Catholic school at Mudgee, New South Wales. He was a keen reader of Dickens and Marryat and serialised novels such as Robbery Under Arms and For the Term of His Natural Life. Lawson's first published poem was A Song of the Republic which appeared in The Bulletin, 1887. This was followed by The Wreck of the Derry Castle and then Golden Gully. Most of his work focuses on the Australian bush, such as the desolate Past Carin, and is considered by some to be among the first accurate descriptions of Australian life as it was at the time.

Henry Lawson's poems narrate the rawness of life in the Australian bush between the late 19th and early 20th century, among humble herdsmen, sheep shearers and itinerant labourers, the compassion for the fates of others, the active solidarity, the austerity of the situations in which women and children live at the mercy of an impervious landscape. Lawson portrays them with great empathy and is able to capture the strenuous struggle to survive in a hostile world and the courage to face the unknown.

In recent years, Australian literature has experienced a revival of interest both domestically and internationally. The increasing prominence of work by writers like Christos Tsiolkas, heightened through television and film adaptation, as well as the award of major international prizes to writers like Richard Flanagan, and the development of new, high-profile prizes like the Stella Prize, have all reinvigorated interest in Australian literature both at home and abroad. This Companion emerges as a part of that reinvigoration, considering anew the history and development of Australian literature and its key themes, as well as tracing the transition of the field through those critical debates. It considers works of Australian literature on their own terms, as well as positioning them in their critical and historical context and their ethical and interactive position in the public and private spheres. With an emphasis on literature’s responsibilities, this book claims Australian literary studies as a field uniquely positioned to expose the ways in which literature engages with, produces and is produced by its context, provoking a critical re-evaluation of the concept of the relationship between national literatures, cultures, and histories, and the social function of literary texts.

To Hell and High Water tells the story of the quest of two brothers to conquer the extreme conditions of outback Australia, recreating the Bourke to Hungerford `tramp' that influenced some of Australian literary legend Henry Lawson's greatest works. The book is part autobiography and part biography. It is an autobiography of the author's experiences with his brother overcoming significant obstacles to achieve his dream of walking in Lawson's footsteps. It paints a vivid picture of some of Australia's most remote country, the challenges and dangers, the heat, the distance, mosquitoes, blisters and thirst. At the same time it blends in the biography of Henry Lawson's captivating life including his marriage, struggles with alcoholism, his suicide attempt, influences upon his writing and his ideals of mateship. Extracts of Lawson's own writing have been carefully selected and woven into the narrative in a manner that draws parallels between the two experiences and offers fresh insights into his life.