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The Poetry and Prose of Archibald and James K. Baxter

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The Poetry and Prose of Archibald and James K. Baxter THE POEJRY AND PROSE OF ARCHIBALD AND JAMES K. BAXTER: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON? A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English in the University of Canterbury by Jennifer C. Johnston University of Canterbury 2001 The Poetry and Prose of Archibald and James K. Baxter: Like Father, Like Son? Jennifer Johnston PR 95'81 , D. 7 I~" '.<' 1::> J.;'.,) . J 7:2 Dt Contents Acknowledgements ... .................. '" ... ... ... ... ... ... .... 1 Abstract... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... 11 Introduction ... ..... , '" ............................. , ... ... ... .... 1 Chapter 1 Archie Baxter: The Man with the Iron Will ... ,. ... ..... 7 Chapter 2 Archie Baxter: Brother Bard........................ ........ 26 Chapter 3 James K. Baxter: Following in the Footsteps... ... ... ... 52 Chapter 4 The Legendary Baxters... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 96 Chapter 5 The Mythological Horse ... ......... '" ... ... ... ... ... ... ...... 119 Conclusion ... ................................................... '" 138 Appendix I Poems by Archibald Baxter .......................... ,....... 144 Appendix II Poems by James K. Baxter... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 160 Selected Bibliography ... ....... , ........ " '" ", ... __ .... I ••• ,.. 186 -'7 JUN ZOOZ Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people who helped make this project possi,:, ble. Firstly, thanks to my Supervisor Dr. Rob Jackaman of the English Depart­ ment at the University of Canterbury for his assistance and encouragement, who, no matter how busy he was, always had the time to listen and help with my numerous questions. Thanks also to Associate Professor Patrick Evans, also of the University of Canterbury, for his assistance and advice as Reader. Thank you to the staff at the Hocken Library, Dunedin, especially archivists Kirsten Tomlinson and Susan Irvine, for their friendly and efficient service which al­ ways made my every visit there such a pleasure. To Dr. Paul Millar at Victoria University, whom I pestered with e-mails, many thanks for all your help and suggestions. My thanks also to Mr. Terence Baxter for his kind and willing as­ sistance with this project. I want also to express my thanks to my parents, Marie and Jeff Jones, for their help and support over the years (not to mention the many hours of baby-sitting when I was either at lectures or studying). Thanks Mum and Dad, you're the best. To my wonderful friends Brenda Hurley and Lisa Press, you were always there with a ready ear and a smile whenever I needed you. Thanks for the times we've shared together, for all the laughs, the teal's, the coffee, the wine (maybe I shouldn't thank you for that), it's been great. A good friend takes a long time to grow-we must all be ancient by now. And finally to the family I am so fortunate to call my own, my husband, Rob­ ert, and my children, Sam, Kelly, and Luke, your unfailing belief in me means more than I can say. Thanks for all the support, patience, and encouragement over the years, especially when it seemed like I would never emerge from be­ neath a mountain of books and get around to doing anything else. How lucky can one person be? ii Abstract The literatW'e of James K. Baxter featW'es many thematic and stylistic paral­ lels with that of his father, Archibald. The material used in this thesis, most of which is previously unpublished, will illustrate how this is apparent from the outset of James's literary career. Substantial use is also made of a per­ sonal interview conducted with James's brother, Terence. Archie's unpublished work contains many expressions of his be­ liefs and principles, and attention to these is essential in order to achieve a better understanding, not only of his own literature, but also to appreciate how these beliefs came to be realised in James's verse from a very early pe­ riod. Archie's poetry, traditionally ignored by critical opinion, will be discussed in some detail, particularly in relation to theme and style. Much of his verse is Romantic, while the remainder is often an expression of pacifist or socialist beliefs. A significant amount of James's early verse reiterates these beliefs also, as the World War II period had a dramatic effect on him and coincided with the beginning of his literary career. Archie's unpublished, factually based novel is impol1ant to this discussion as it is evidence that a tradition of ancestral mythology was well­ established by previous Baxter generations. Therefore James, rather than be­ gitming this mythology himself, as has been thought, actually had a substan­ tial body of myth and legend at his disposal should he choose to use it. His posthumously published novel, Horse, is not only indebted to this legacy, but iii also illustrates his conscious desire to make himself a part of that same my­ thology. The extent and obvious nature of many literary parallels and similarities in work ~f Archie and James highlight the fact that, although much of Archie's material remains unpublished, it is a useful source for de­ veloping a greater understanding of James's literature. Introduction The Poetry and Prose of Archibald and James K. Baxter: Like Father, Like Son? The literature of James K Baxter has continued to generate considerable in­ terest in both the literary and the wider public arenas despite his death ahnost thirty years ago at the age of forty-six, His verse is therefore probably among the best known of any New Zealand poet to date. Although his life and work have been the subject of many biographies in the past, the picture these texts have presented has never really been complete as not only have the origins of much of Baxter's work, particularly his juvenilia, remained largely unex­ plored, but also his verse has always been considered in isolation, and never in conjunction with the literature of his father, Archibald Baxter. New Zea­ land critical opinion has generally acknowledged Archie Baxter's autobiog­ raphy, We Will Not Cease (5 th ed. Auckland, Penguin Books, 1987), as his sole literary effort, However this is actually not the case as Archie did in fact wlite a substantial amount of poetry and prose, which, although it may have been largely ignored or forgotten, is preserved in the archives of the Hocken Library, Dunedin, together with the Baxter family papers. The unpublished state of much of James's early verse and of Archie's literature has meant that the distinct thematic relationship existent between both of their writings has also been overlooked, However, when 2 James's verse, particularly that which was composed prior to 1944, is con~ sidered alongside the poetry and prose of his father, it becomes immediately apparent that Archie, and indeed the wider Baxter clan, were in fact fm' greater sources of literary inspiration for James than has traditionally been thought. In the past several critics have already noted the general impact of Archie's quiet, dignified personality on everybody around him, and there is no question that the effect he had on his son was considerable. He was a re~ markable and charismatic man who possessed very high personal principles and beliefs, many of which his family came to share. He was a pacifist and a conscientious objector during the First World War, and knew well what it was to be a marginalised figure at odds with much of society, as this was a time when many New Zealanders were extremely jingoistic, and pacifists were usually treated with intolerance and contempt. Archie was deported to the front lines in France by the New Zealand Govermnent in 1917, so that he could undergo what they telmed as the "process of conversion", which in~ valved prolonged periods of severe mental anguish, torture, and near starva­ tion. He remained undaunted however, and later, in 1939, published his autobiography describing this ordeal. The effect of Archie's steadfast beliefs and an awareness of his treatment during his time as a conscientious objector are factors that cannot be underestimated when discussing the literature of his son, as they were to impact heavily on Jmnes particularly during the cru­ cially formative stages of his life. The spming criticism heretofore paid towards Archie's autobiogra­ phy has tended to be confined to expressions of horror at his ordeal, or to a focus on the personality of Archie himself, rather than performing the task of actual literary criticism. This is a rather curious circumstance, particulm'ly as 3 James himself regarded his father's literary ability with admiration and re­ spect, and even included some of it in his own manuscript notebooks. Archie obviously favoured the work of the Romantic poets, and much of his verse is an attempt at such a style; and it is apparent that he was most comfortable with the ballad form. Despite James's appreciation of this work it must also be said, however, that some of Archie's poetry and prose is not of the high­ est quality-but given the short duration of his fonnal education, the inferior nature of some of his literature is perhaps to be expected. Nevertheless, the main focus of this current discussion will not really be concerned with the technical merits of the literature itself as such since the interest with Archie's literature lies not so much in what it is, but what it can reveal. This material not only allows a much :fuller understanding of the atmosphere which would have surrounded the young Baxter during his childhood and adolescent years, but also draws attention to the undoubted existence of strong literary parallels of theme and style between the work of both father and son which remain constant throughout James's literary career, and whose origins can be traced back to this early period. Pacifism is certainly the most obvious theme common to both Archie and James's work and one which, although apparent from James's boyhood verse, is a belief he revisited repeatedly in his poetry, even as an adult.
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