Judith Wright
Collected Poems
4th Estate AU, New Edition 2016
A new edition of the Collected Poems of Judith Wright, one of Australia's best-loved poets.
This definitive collection represents the impressive poetic achievement of one of Australia's best loved and most highly respected poets.Judith Wright's Collected Poems comprises her work from 1942 to 1985 and is a fitting tribute to an outstanding poet. Demonstrating a deep love of the Australian landscape, coupled with an awareness of white history and an intense concern for Aboriginal rights, she increasingly focused on the need for wildlife preservation and conservation and was one of the first Australian environmentalists. The late Dorothy Porter referred to Judith Wright's poetry as being so lucid and so perceptive that it was 'shining with meaning'.
Whether she is read for her rich evocation of the Australian land, for the truth, sensitivity and profundity of her meditations on the great themes of love, death and eternity, or for the beauty of her lyric style, Judith Wright is always supremely rewarding.
About the Author
Judith Wright (31 May 1915 – 25 June 2000) was born in Armidale, New South Wales, into a prominent New England pastoral family. A worker for conservation, Aboriginal land rights and human rights from the early days of these movements, she has given expression to these concerns over a lifetime of literary activity. Wright's first book of poetry, The Moving Image, was published in 1946 while she was working at the University of Queensland as a research officer. Then, she had also worked with Clem Christesen on the literary magazine Meanjin, the first edition of which was published in late 1947. In 1966, she published The Nature of Love, her first collection of short stories, through Sun Press, Melbourne. Set mainly in Queensland, they include 'The Ant-lion', 'The Vineyard Woman', 'Eighty Acres', 'The Dugong', 'The Weeping Fig' and 'The Nature of Love', all first published in The Bulletin. Wright was nominated for the 1967 Nobel Prize for Literature. Wright died in Canberra on 25 June 2000, aged 85.
