Review of Kenneth Slessor, by Adrian Caesar, and Kenneth Slessor: Collected Poems, edited by Dennis Haskell and Geoffrey Dutton

Abstract

One hundred and three poems and two books of light verse are the basis of Adrian Caesar's review of Kenneth Slessor's life and works. The book was written before Collected Poems was available and 87 uncollected poems and nine children's verses were added to the canon, almost doubling it, and showing that Slessor did not stop writing poetry after the second world war. The uncollected poems will have a bearing on how we read Slessor's 'silence' after 1947, and should consolidate his reputation as a satiric poet, but they would not have made any difference to Caesar's thesis, nor have changed his assessment of Slessor's standing as a poet.

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Published 1 May 1996 in Volume 17 No. 3. Subjects: Kenneth Slessor.

Cite as: Croft, Julian. ‘Review of Kenneth Slessor, by Adrian Caesar, and Kenneth Slessor: Collected Poems, edited by Dennis Haskell and Geoffrey Dutton.’ Australian Literary Studies, vol. 17, no. 3, 1996, doi: 10.20314/als.afc4facecb.