The Poems of Henry Kendall
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The Poems of Henry Kendall Kendall, Henry (1839-1882) University of Sydney Library Sydney 1998 http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit © University of Sydney Library. The texts and Images are not to be used for commercial purposes without permission Source Text: Prepared against the print edition published Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1920 All quotation marks retained as data Author First Published 1920 Australian Etexts poetry 1870-1889 verse The Poems of Henry Kendall Sydney Angus and Robertson 1920 CONTENTS Poems and Songs THE MUSE OF AUSTRALIA .. 3 MOUNTAINS .. 3 KIAMA .. 6 ETHELINE .. 7 AILENE .. 9 KOOROORA .. 11 FAINTING BY THE WAY .. 12 SONG OF THE CATTLE-HUNTERS .. 14 FOOTFALLS .. 15 GOD HELP OUR MEN AT SEA .. 16 SITTING BY THE FIRE .. 17 BELLAMBI'S MAID .. 20 THE CURLEW SONG .. 21 THE BALLAD OF TANNA .. 22 THE RAIN COMES SOBBING DO THE DOOR .. 23 URARA .. 25 EVENING HYMN .. 26 STANZAS .. 27 THE WAIL IN THE NATIVE OAK .. 27 HARPS WE LOVE .. 30 WAITING AND WISHING .. 30 THE WILD KANGAROO .. 31 CLARI .. 33 WOLLONGONG .. 33 ELLA WITH THE SHINING HAIR .. 35 THE BARCOO .. 37 BELLS BEYOND THE FOREST .. 37 ULMARRA .. 40 THE MAID OF GERRINGONG .. 41 WATCHING .. 45 THE OPOSSUM-HUNTERS .. 46 IN THE DEPTHS OF A FOREST .. 47 TO CHARLES HARPUR .. 48 THE RIVER AND THE HILL .. 49 THE FATE OF THE EXPLORERS .. 50 LURLINE .. 53 UNDER THE FIGTREE .. 54 DROWNED AT SEA .. 54 MORNING IN THE BUSH .. 56 THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME .. 58 AMONGST THE ROSES .. 59 SUNSET .. 60 DOUBTING .. 61 GERALDINE .. 62 ACHAN .. 63 Leaves from Australian Forests Dedication .. 67 PREFATORY SONNETS .. 67 THE HUT IN THE BLACK SWAMP .. 68 SEPTEMBER IN AUSTRALIA .. 70 GHOST GLEN .. 72 DAPHNE .. 73 THE WARRIGAL .. 75 EUROCLYDON .. 76 ARALUEN .. 79 AT EUROMA .. 81 ILLA CREEK .. 82 MOSS ON A WALL .. 83 CAMPASPE .. 84 ON A CATTLE TRACK .. 86 TO DAMASCUS .. 87 BELL BIRDS .. 88 A DEATH IN THE BUSH .. 90 A SPANISH LOVE SONG .. 95 THE LAST OF HIS TRIBE .. 96 ARAKOON .. 98 THE VOYAGE OF TELEGONUS .. 99 SITTING BY THE FIRE .. 104 CLEONE .. 105 CHARLES HARPUR .. 106 GOD HELP OUR MEN AT SEA .. [In 1869 edition] COOGEE .. 108 OGYGES .. 110 BY THE SEA .. 113 SONG OF THE CATTLE HUNTERS .. [In 1869 edition] KING SAUL AT GILBOA .. 113 IN THE VALLEY .. 117 TWELVE SONNETS .. 118 SUTHERLAND'S GRAVE .. 124 SYRINX .. 125 ON THE PAROO .. 126 FAITH IN GOD .. 129 MOUNTAIN MOSS .. 130 THE GLEN OF ARRAWATTA .. 131 EUTERPE .. 137 ELLEN BAY .. 138 AT DUSK .. 139 SAFI .. 140 DANIEL HENRY DENIEHY .. 143 MEROPE .. 144 AFTER THE HUNT .. 146 ROSE LORRAINE .. 147 Songs from the Mountains TO A MOUNTAIN ... 151 MARY RIVERS ... 153 KINGSBOROUGH ... 154 BEYOND KERGUELEN ... 157 BLACK LIZZIE ... 159 HY-BRASIL ... 163 JIM THE SPLITTER ... 164 MOONI ... 167 PYTHEAS ... 170 BILL THE BULLOCK DRIVER ... 172 COORANBEAN ... 175 WHEN UNDERNEATH THE BROWN DEAD GRASS ... 177 THE VOICE IN THE WILD OAK ... 178 BILLY VICKERS ... 180 PERSIA ... 183 LILITH ... 185 BOB ... 187 PETER THE PICCANINNY ... 190 NARRARA CREEK ... 193 IN MEMORY OF JOHN FAIRFAX ... 195 ARALUEN ... 197 THE SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ... 198 CHRISTMAS CREEK ... 206 ORARA ... 208 THE CURSE OF MOTHER FLOOD ... 210 ON A SPANISH CATHEDRAL ... 212 ROVER ... 215 THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ... 219 BY THE CLIFFS OF THE SEA ... 221 GALATEA ... 224 BLACK KATE ... 225 A HYDE PARK LARRIKIN ... 227 NAMES UPON A STONE ... 230 LEICHHARDT ... 232 AFTER MANY YEARS ... 234 Early Poems, 1859-70 THE MERCHANT SHIP .. 239 OH, TELL ME, YE BREEZES .. 242 THE FAR FUTURE .. 243 SILENT TEARS .. 244 EXTEMPORE LINES .. 245 THE OLD YEAR .. 246 TANNA .. 246 THE EARTH LAMENTS FOR DAY .. 248 THE LATE W.V.WILD, ESQ. .. 249 ASTARTE .. 251 AUSTRALIAN WAR SONG .. 252 THE IVY ON THE WALL .. 253 TO MY BROTHER, BASIL E.KENDALL .. 255 THE WATERFALL .. 255 THE SONG OF ARDA .. 257 THE HELMSMAN .. 259 TO MISS ANNIE HOPKINS .. 260 FORESHADOWINGS .. 261 SONNETS ON THE DISCOVERY OF BOTANY BAY BY CAPTAIN COOK .. 263 TO HENRY HALLORAN .. 265 LOST IN THE FLOOD .. 266 EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY$hyphen;FOUR .. 267 TO ---- .. 269 AT LONG BAY .. 270 FOR EVER .. 272 SONNETS .. 274 THE BEREAVED ONE .. 276 DUNGOG .. 276 DENIEHY'S LAMENT .. 279 DENIEHY'S DREAM .. 279 CUI BONO? .. 280 IN HYDE PARK .. 282 NED THE LARRIKIN .. 285 IN MEMORIAM — NICOL DRYSDALE STENHOUSE .. 287 RIZPAH .. 289 KIAMA REVISITED .. 290 PASSING AWAY .. 293 JAMES LIONEL MICHAEL .. 294 ELIJAH .. 296 MANASSEH .. 298 CAROLINE CHISHOLM .. 301 MOUNT EREBUS .. 303 OUR JACK .. 305 CAMPED BY THE CREEK .. 307 EUTERPE .. 308 SEDAN .. 315 Other Poems, 1871-82 ADAM LINDSAY GORDON .. 319 IN MEMORY OF EDWARD BUTLER .. 320 HOW THE MELBOURNE CUP WAS WON .. 323 BLUE MOUNTAIN PIONEERS .. 324 ROBERT PARKES .. 325 AT HER WINDOW .. 328 WILLIAM BEDE DALLEY .. 330 TO THE SPIRIT OF MUSIC .. 331 JOHN DUNMORE LANG .. 335 ON A BABY BURIED BY THE HAWKESBURY .. 336 SONG OF THE SHINGLE-SPLITTERS .. 336 ON A STREET .. 337 HEATH FROM THE HIGHLANDS .. 340 THE AUSTRAL MONTHS .. 343 ABORIGINAL DEATH-SONG .. 348 SYDNEY HARBOUR .. 349 A BIRTHDAY TRIFLE .. 350 FRANK DENZ .. 351 SYDNEY EXHIBITION CANTATA .. 354 HYMN OF PRAISE .. 356 BASIL MOSS .. 357 HUNTED DOWN .. 361 WAMBERAL .. 364 IN MEMORIAM — ALICE FANE GUNN STENHOUSE .. 365 FROM THE FORESTS .. 369 JOHN BEDE POLDING .. 371 OUTRE MER .. 374 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE By Bertram Stevens HENRY KENDALL was the first Australian poet to draw his inspiration from the life, scenery and traditions of the country. In the beginnings of Australian poetry the names of two other men stand with his — Adam Lindsay Gordon, of English parentage and education, and Charles Harpur, born in Australia a generation earlier than Kendall. Harpur's work, though lacking vitality, shows fitful gleams of poetic fire suggestive of greater achievement had the circumstances of his life been more favourable. Kendall, whose lot was scarcely more fortunate, is a true singer; his songs remain, and are likely long to remain, attractive to poetry lovers. The poet's grandfather, Thomas Kendall, a Lincolnshire schoolmaster, met the Revd. Samuel Marsden when the latter was in England seeking assistants for his projected missionary work in New Zealand. Kendall offered his services to the Church Missionary Society of London and came out to Sydney in 1809. Five years later he was sent to the Bay of Islands as a lay missionary, holding also the first magistrate's commission issued for New Zealand. He soon made friends with the Maoris and learnt their language well enough to compile a primer in pidgin-Maori, A KORAO NO NEW ZEALAND; OR, THE NEW ZEALANDER'S FIRST BOOK, which George Howe printed for Marsden at Sydney in 1815. In 1820 Thomas Kendall went to England with some Maori chiefs, and while there helped Professor Lee, of Cambridge, to “fix” the Maori language — the outcome of their work being Lee and Kendall's GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY OF THE LANGUAGE OF NEW ZEALAND, published in the same year. Returning to New Zealand, Kendall, in 1823, left the Missionary Society and went with his son Basil to Chile. In 1826 he came back to Australia, and for his good work as a missionary received from the New South Wales Government a grant of 1280 acres at Ulladulla, on the South Coast. There he entered the timber trade and became owner and master of a small vessel used in the business. About 1832 this vessel was wrecked near Sydney, and all on board, including the owner, were drowned. Of Basil Kendall's early career little is known. While in South America he saw service under Lord Cochrane, the famous tenth Earl of Dundonald, who, after five brilliant years in the Chilean service, was, between 1823 and 1825, fighting on behalf of Brazil. Basil returned to Australia, but disappears from view until 1840. One day in that year he met a Miss Melinda McNally, and next day they were married. Soon afterwards they settled on the Ulladulla grant, farming land at Kirmington, two miles from the little town of Milton. There, in a primitive cottage Basil had built, twin sons — Basil Edward and Henry — were born on the 18th April, 1841. Five years later the family moved to the Clarence River district and settled near the Orara. Basil Kendall had practically lost one lung before his marriage, and failing health made it exceedingly difficult for him to support his family, to which by this time three daughters had been added. On the Orara he grew steadily weaker, and died somewhere about 1851. Basil Kendall was well educated, and had done what he could to educate his children. After his death the family was scattered, and the two boys were sent to a relative on the South Coast. The scenery of this district made a profound impression upon Henry, and is often referred to in his early poems. In 1855 his uncle Joseph took him as cabin boy in his brig, the `Plumstead', for a two years' cruise in the Pacific, during which they touched at many of the Islands and voyaged as far north as Yokohama. The beauty of the scenes he visited lived in the boy's memory, but the rigours of ship life were so severe that in after years he looked back on the voyage with horror. Henry Kendall returned to Sydney in March, 1857, and at once obtained employment in the city and set about making a home for his mother and sisters. Mrs. Kendall, granddaughter of Leonard McNally, a Dublin notable of his day, was a clever, handsome woman with a strong constitution and a volatile temperament. Henry was always devoted to her, and considered that from her he inherited whatever talent he possessed. She helped in his education, and encouraged him to write verse.