The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses (2 ed.)
by Andrew Barton `Banjo' Paterson [Australian Poet, Reporter -- 1864-1941.]
[Note on text: Italicized stanzas will be indented 5 spaces.
Italicized words or phrases will be capitalized.
Lines longer than 75 characters have been broken according to metre,
and the continuation is indented two spaces. Also,
some obvious errors, after being confirmed against other sources,
have been corrected.]
[Note on content: Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson were writing for
the Sydney `Bulletin' in 1892 when Lawson suggested a `duel' of poetry
to increase the number of poems they could sell to the paper.
It was apparently entered into in all fun, though there are reports
that Lawson was bitter about it later. `In Defence of the Bush',
included in this selection, was one of Paterson's replies to Lawson.]
[The 1913 printing (Sydney, Fifty-third Thousand) of the Second Edition
(first published in 1902) was used in the preparation of this etext.
First edition was first published in 1895.]
THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER AND OTHER VERSES by A. B. Paterson ("The Banjo")
with preface by Rolf Boldrewood
Preface
It is not so easy to write ballads descriptive of the bushland of Australia
as on light consideration would appear. Reasonably good verse
on the subject has been supplied in sufficient quantity.
But the maker of folksongs for our newborn nation requires
a somewhat rare combination of gifts and experiences.
Dowered with the poet's heart, he must yet have passed his `wander-jaehre'
amid the stern solitude of the Austral waste -- must have ridden the race
in the back-block township, guided the reckless stock-horse
adown the mountain spur, and followed the night-long moving,
spectral-seeming herd `in the droving days'. Amid such scarce
congenial surroundings comes oft that finer ...
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