The Wild Reciter: Poetry and popular culture in Australia 1890 to the present
Melbourne University Press, $34.99 pb, 344 pp
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Shaming hyenas
In his 1928 collection of poems, Odd Jobs, Ernest ‘Kodak’ O’Ferrall caricatures recitation as an onerous entertainment that has passed its use by date:
Way out in the suburbs howls the wild Reciter,
Storming like a general, bragging like a blighter;
He would shame hyenas lurking in their dens
As he roars at peaceful folk whose joy is keeping hens.…
Tie his hands and gag him as he rolls his eyes,
Bag his head and bear him swiftly through the night.
That’s the only remedy for villains who recite.
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The Wild Reciter: Poetry and popular culture in Australia 1890 to the present
by Peter Kirkpatrick
Melbourne University Press, $34.99 pb, 344 pp
ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.
