[Editor: This is section 13 of “Barcroft Boake: A Memoir ”, by A. G. Stephens, published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]
[Poetry and star-gazing]
Boake wrote some unremarkable verses ‘In Memoriam, Arthur Biscay,’ and sent them to The Albury Banner, which had published a short time previously a metrical address ‘To “Rolf Boldrewood”’ — Boake’s first printed composition. The latter to some extent echoes Gordon’s dedication to ‘Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes’ — itself an echo of Swinburne’s dedication to ‘Poems and Ballads’ — and commences:
I cannot climb Fame’s tower and ring
An ever-sounding chime;
I only have the art to string
Poor phrases into rhyme:
Nor can I strike that subtle chord
Of melody flung heavenward,
Like those whose names are deeply scored
Upon the walls of time.However faint, I yet may catch
A gentle undertone;
However humble, yet a snatch
Of song to call my own —
An echo from that Alpine height
Too steep for me, yet still in sight,
Where, emulating swallow flight,
The songs of these have flown.
Ten verses follow referring to scenes in ‘Rolf Boldrewood’s’ novels, and the address closes —
Chieftain! whose banner is unfurled
Upon the Murray’s banks;
You who throughout the lettered world
Have won undying thanks —
A veteran’s honours on your breast:
Deal gently by these lines addressed
By one who must remain at best
A private in the ranks.
On 19th October, 1891, Boake writes from the camp at ‘The Rock’ —
My Dear Father, — Did you ever lie on your back in the sun and have beautiful thoughts, that you can’t put into words, come to you? That is what I was doing this evening. You just lie down and fix your eyes on the red crest of the old rock, and wait. Presently you feel yourself melting away, and then the body stops behind and away you go — somewhere — I don’t know where — fairy-land, I suppose — that’s where all the lovely things come from. Some men go and bring back beautiful stories; others, poetry: some only wake up with a sigh and have the recollection. I was thinking how nice it would be if one could always stay young, and not have too much work to do, and just lie in the sun. But then the sun doesn’t always shine: besides, it would get monotonous. This is apropos of nothing at all; only I have just been musing under the stars while I waited for one gentleman named Achenar to come to his E. elongation. We are having the most perfect weather possible: it is simply joy to be alive. If it would only always be spring!
Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 198-200
Editor’s notes:
Achernar = a star in the constellation of Eridanus
See: “Achernar”, Wikipedia
apropos = (French) à propos, literally “to purpose” (i.e. with regard to the purpose); pertinent, relevant; opportune, fitting, at the right time; with regard to the present topic, with reference to, with respect to, with regards to, in relation to
Murray = the Murray River (also known as the River Murray), a major river which flows through New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia (it serves as the major part of the border between NSW and Victoria)
See: “Murray River”, Wikipedia
Rolf Boldrewood = a pseudonym used by Thomas Alexander Browne (born Brown) (1826-1915), a pastoralist, police magistrate, gold commissioner, and author; he is especially known for his novel Robbery Under Arms (1882); he was born in London (England) in 1826, came to Australia in 1831, and died in Melbourne (Victoria) in 1915
See: 1) T. Inglis Moore, “Thomas Alexander Browne (1826–1915)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Thomas Alexander Browne”, Wikipedia
Gordon = Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870), a poet who spent most of his working and literary life in Australia; he was born in Charlton Kings (Gloucestershire, England), and migrated to Adelaide (South Australia) in 1853, at the age of 20; he worked as a mounted policeman, a horse-breaker, a Member of Parliament (in SA), and as a sheep farmer; he became a popular poet, due to such writings as “The Sick Stockrider” (1870); he died in Brighton (Victoria) in 1870
See: 1) Leonie Kramer, “Gordon, Adam Lindsay (1833–1870)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
score = to cut or scratch a line in something; a line created by a cut or scratch; an incision or notch
Swinburne = Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic
See: “Algernon Charles Swinburne”, Wikipedia
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