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'David Campbell is remembered as one of Australia’s finest lyric poets. A man of strong, highly individual personality and wide achievement, born into a landed family, he was a grazier in the Monaro for most of his life and a decorated airman during the Second World War. He published eleven books of poems and two of short stories, and very many of his poems and short stories appeared in The Bulletin under Douglas Stewart’s literary editorship. He had friends in many fields and his influence on fellow writers was considerable.
'Campbell’s poetry was inspired by his love of the land, in all its forms, and by his belief in the unity of all things in nature. Though not conventionally religious, he was a true pantheist. In his words:
'“The cosmos dances” ….'
(Source: publisher's blurb)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Shimmering in the Sun
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , July / August vol. 64 no. 7/8 2020; (p. 100-103)
— Review of David Campbell: A Life of the Poet 2020 single work biography 'This is a comprehensive, informative and reflective account of the life of the poet David Campbell. Campbell lived from 1915 to 1979 and the more than forty years since his death have not diminished the power and vision of his poems nor the value in continuing to read works of superlative craftsmanship; his eye for the natural world in its polarities; and the intellectual inquiry expressed in his verse. Persse’s book encouraged me to re-assemble my copies of Campbell’s poems and explore something more of their scope and what others have said about him. That kind of response may be the aim of the Life—to encourage reading and re-reading of the poems as the primary point of interest and encounter with the man who wrote them.' (Introduction) -
Life of the Poet Frustratingly Short on Intimate Details
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12 December 2020; (p. 20)
— Review of David Campbell: A Life of the Poet 2020 single work biography -
Life and Poetry : A Writer of Glass-Delicate Lyrics
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 424 2020; (p. 16-17)
— Review of David Campbell: A Life of the Poet 2020 single work biography'To an older generation of Australian poetry readers, David Campbell (1915–79) was perhaps the best-loved poet of Douglas Stewart’s post-World War II ‘Red Page’, appearing there with what would become iconic poems of the new Bulletin school like ‘Windy Gap’, ‘Who Points the Swallow’, and ‘Men in Green’. Despite his frequent publication in that heritage venue, Campbell published his first collection, Speak with the Sun (1949), in England with Chatto & Windus, through the good offices of his Cambridge mentor E.M.W. Tillyard. After that, he joined the ancien A&R régime of poets like Rosemary Dobson, R.D. FitzGerald, Francis Webb, James McAuley, and Judith Wright, who took up much of the middle ground of Australian poetry in the 1950s and 1960s. A lifelong friend and supporter of Campbell, Stewart was also influential in this group’s prominence, along with Beatrice Davis, his editorial co-adviser at Angus & Robertson.' (Introduction)
-
Life and Poetry : A Writer of Glass-Delicate Lyrics
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 424 2020; (p. 16-17)
— Review of David Campbell: A Life of the Poet 2020 single work biography'To an older generation of Australian poetry readers, David Campbell (1915–79) was perhaps the best-loved poet of Douglas Stewart’s post-World War II ‘Red Page’, appearing there with what would become iconic poems of the new Bulletin school like ‘Windy Gap’, ‘Who Points the Swallow’, and ‘Men in Green’. Despite his frequent publication in that heritage venue, Campbell published his first collection, Speak with the Sun (1949), in England with Chatto & Windus, through the good offices of his Cambridge mentor E.M.W. Tillyard. After that, he joined the ancien A&R régime of poets like Rosemary Dobson, R.D. FitzGerald, Francis Webb, James McAuley, and Judith Wright, who took up much of the middle ground of Australian poetry in the 1950s and 1960s. A lifelong friend and supporter of Campbell, Stewart was also influential in this group’s prominence, along with Beatrice Davis, his editorial co-adviser at Angus & Robertson.' (Introduction)
-
Life of the Poet Frustratingly Short on Intimate Details
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12 December 2020; (p. 20)
— Review of David Campbell: A Life of the Poet 2020 single work biography -
Shimmering in the Sun
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , July / August vol. 64 no. 7/8 2020; (p. 100-103)
— Review of David Campbell: A Life of the Poet 2020 single work biography 'This is a comprehensive, informative and reflective account of the life of the poet David Campbell. Campbell lived from 1915 to 1979 and the more than forty years since his death have not diminished the power and vision of his poems nor the value in continuing to read works of superlative craftsmanship; his eye for the natural world in its polarities; and the intellectual inquiry expressed in his verse. Persse’s book encouraged me to re-assemble my copies of Campbell’s poems and explore something more of their scope and what others have said about him. That kind of response may be the aim of the Life—to encourage reading and re-reading of the poems as the primary point of interest and encounter with the man who wrote them.' (Introduction)
