1 Robert J Pope (1865-1949) was a well- known Wellington poet, cricketer and songwriter in his day and till the end of the 1940s he held a reputation as a national songwriter for his school song New Zealand, My Homeland but today, his work is little known and out of print. Popes poetry, lyrically gifted, showed musical flair and easy felicity of rhyme. He began writing and publishing in earnest during the Edwardian era, and his work notably covers the two world wars and the national politics of the period, 1902-1944. His most interesting work concerns sporting verse on the 1924/25 All Blacks Invincibles tour of Great Britain and France and suburban satires on Wellington city-life. Pope was a leading light verse parodist of his day, publishing mainly in the Free Lance and The Evening Post, and was a precursor to the Wellington group of the 1950s. This selection gives a substantial picture of the man and his times and restores a significant New Zealand poet. Previously uncollected and unpublished poems accompany selections from Popes two published books. An appendix includes a selection of his prose writings, including his Wellington club cricket essay and sporting contorts and retorts. Mark Pirie is a Wellington poet, anthologist, critic and editor. He currently co-organises the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa with Dr Niel Wright and Dr Michael OLeary. His books include A Tingling Catch: A Century of New Zealand Cricket Poems 1864-2009. Cover photo: Star Clubs Pearce Cup winning team of 1883/84, from The Evening Post, 1929 Author photo: The Evening Post, c1940s ISBN 978-0-473-22791-3 (Print); ISBN 978-0-473-27487-0 (Online) 2 KING WILLOW 3 Also by Robert J Pope Some New Zealand Lyrics (1928) A New Zealanders Fancies in Verse (1946) 4 King Willow Selected Poems Robert J Pope Edited by Mark Pirie No.1 in the HeadworX Classic Poetry Series HEADWORX WELLINGTON 5 First published 2012 HeadworX Publishers 4C/19 Cottleville Terrace Thorndon, Wellington Aotearoa / New Zealand http://headworx.eyesis.co.nz ISBN 978-0-473-22791-3 (Print) ISBN 978-0-473-27487-0 (Online) This selection, introduction, arrangement and notes © Mark Pirie 2012 Book design/typesetting by Mark Pirie HeadworX® is a registered trademark of HeadworX Publishers This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of review, private research, and criticism as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Printed by PrintStop Ltd, Wellington 6 CONTENTS Introduction 11 From Some New Zealand Lyrics (1928) New Zealand, My Homeland 25 An Abode of Peace 26 The Worn Armchair 27 The Orphan Isles 29 To a Strad 30 WAR POEMS Pro Patria 30 The Lads That Lie Low 31 Mourn for the Brave 33 Is It Naught To You? 34 The Derelict 35 Wellington 36 Summer is Dying 37 Memories 38 Gentle Spring 40 Am Meer 40 Natures Call 41 Australia and New Zealand 42 Six and Sixty-two 43 An Old Settlers Reverie 44 Vale 46 From A New Zealanders Fancies in Verse (1946) The Little Ships 49 Beyond the Veil 50 Wanted, a Leader 51 Christmas Time 51 Waiting 53 Billys Tea 54 7 A Nazi Prayer 55 The Trial 55 The Pleasing Politician 56 The Tui 57 Little Blue Eyes 58 Adam and Eve 59 King Willow 60 The Doorkeepers Retort to Hitler 61 The Choice 62 The Boss 63 The Stricken Advertiser 64 New Zealand 66 Sunshine and Shadow 67 Spring 68 A Protest 69 Our Beer 71 Uncollected and Unpublished Poems The Fate of the Land Bill 75 The Sparrow 76 The Lament of the New Zealand Emigrant 78 Manners on the Trams 80 His Iron Cross 81 The Answer 82 Day in Peace is Dying 83 A Labour Song 83 Prince Charming 85 Necessaries Only 87 Parting Injunction to Bill 89 On Strike 90 Shingled 92 A Bachelors Dilemma 93 A Nocturne 94 The Community Sing 95 8 The Dress Problem 96 Ode to the Cost of Living 97 To a Watersider 98 A Psalm of Life 99 Parafin Oil 100 The Warmth of Other Days 101 Autres Temps, Autres Moeurs 102 The Pictures 103 The Cult of the Horse 104 Rejuvenating Grandad 106 Out in the Straits 108 The Tyranny of Fashion: The Washer Ladys Wail 109 The Syrens of Kenepuru 110 The All Blacks: My Selection 111 The All Blacks 114 An All Blacks Rumour 115 The Woman JP 116 Give it a Name 117 Kindness on the Field 118 Nine and Twenty All Blacks 120 Labour Election Song 120 Trifles 121 The Mayoralty 121 Honest George 122 The Dominion Cup 123 Hatonomy 125 The New Member 126 Punctured 126 G.B.S. 126 The Star 127 Sounds Like Sense 127 The Exhibition 128 Appreciations 129 Centenary Preparations 130 The Confessions of a Cabinet Minister 131 9 The Fuhrer 132 A Hitler Epitaph 133 To a Budding Politician 134 Windy Wellington 135 Songs Dick Seddon 137 Come, Playmates, Come 138 The Plucky Cockee 138 Wellington! 139 Our Union Jack 141 The British Navy 142 The Lies 144 Appendix: Selected Prose Up-to-date Ghost Story 147 Evolution of the N.Z. Soldier 149 Local Cricket Feats Recalled 151 From Contorts and Retorts 153 Maori Place Names: Correct Pronunciation: Some Simple Examples 155 Notes 160 Bibliography 182 10 INTRODUCTION I Robert James Pope (1865-1949) was a New Zealand poet, songwriter, violinist, cricketer, teacher, and headmaster. He became well known in Wellington between 1910 and 1945 for his contributions to the New Zealand Free Lance and the popular Postscripts column in the Evening Post newspaper as well as for his song New Zealand, My Homeland used nationally in New Zealand schools. Official birth records state Pope was born in Caversham, Dunedin, on 24 March 1865. He was one of a family of 12 and the son of Helen Grant Rattray and James Henry Pope (a future Government inspector of native schools and founder of the native school system).1 Helen and James had previously lived in Ballarat, Australia, and married there in 1862.2 They moved to Dunedin where James took up a position as assistant master at the High School of Otago (later Otago Boys High School).3 Popes father was an accomplished linguist, writer and musician.4 James retired from his final position as Deputy Principal at Girls High School at the end of 1878 due to ill health.5 In his poem Memories Pope recalls early Dunedin days where there by the fireside my father sat, And I upon his knee, Enthralled by the wondrous tale he told Of the Old, Old Man of the Sea. There my mother plied her needle oft Sure toil our rents supplied; As a child, Robert was educated first in Dunedin at Caversham District School and after the Boys High School until on 12 August 1881 Pope left Dunedin aboard the Penguin6 arriving in Wellington where he entered Wellington College.7 His father had by then moved the family north to begin his work as a Government founder/inspector of native schools. After school, Pope passed Junior Civil Service Examinations in 18888, New Zealand University matriculation examinations in 18899, Teachers Examinations in the early 1890s10, lived in various parts of the lower and central North Island and began working as a teacher. He married 11 Ernestina Victoria Pullar in Wellington on 29 December 1896. The couple had three children: Robert Earle Pope, Flora Pope and Eileen Fortune (née Pope). In 1938, Eileen (1903-78), a former teacher at Wellington Girls College, married in China Reo Fortune (1903-79), who became a well-known anthropologist at Cambridge University in England. In Canton, they had to flee from the advancing Japanese. In all, Pope worked for the Wellington Education Board for 37 years as teacher and headmaster. He began his teaching in 1888 as assistant master at Te Aute College, Hawkes Bay11, and then became a master at the first school in Levin that opened on 22 February 1890.12 Pope arrived in a bullock-dray but didnt last long and was relatively ineffective there. An inspectors report indicated he was perhaps too gentle for the environment, opting to move on at the end of the year.13 His particular dislike were the mosquitoes that arrived in spring from out of the bush.14 He moved to Featherston as an assistant master (1891-92) and was next an assistant master at Newtown School in Wellington (1893-1896). He then became a headmaster at Kaiwaiwai School for around nine years in the Wairarapa distinguishing himself with a high student pass record, the first time it had occurred in the Wairarapa.15 In March 1906 he was appointed headmaster of Kaiwarra [now Kaiwharawhara] School in Wellington for 20 years. After a fire destroyed his original residence near Kaiwarra School in 1911, he lived in various suburbs of Wellington.16 Pope retired from Kaiwarra School in December 1925 due to a breakdown in health forcing him to resign his position just as Kaiwarra opened a new school in a new location.17 His last address was at Garden Road in the suburb of Northland. There is a colourful depiction of his home in Northland in a newspaper article on his 85th birthday: A sunlit sceneflowers and shrubs in arabesques of light and shade beneath a mantle of trees. This was Natures greeting to Mr. R. J. Pope on his 85th birthday this morning. It was the kind of viewthe Botanical Gardens seen from his elevated home in Garden Roadthat never failed to delight Mr.