Australian Poet Les Murray’s 70th Birthday
Over recent weeks I have read a great deal of the poetry of Les Murray. I had a concentrated period of reading his work, plus a biography of his life, so that I could write a research paper on his life and work. Today we celebrate his 70th birthday.
Les is arguably Australia’s greatest poet, and his work is acknowledged internationally as being amongst the best poetry being written in English. The poetry of Les Murray is unmistakeably Australian in nature. He draws on the Australian landscape for inspiration like few other poets have done before him. With over thirty volumes of his poetry already published, Murray is also probably the most prolific of Australian poets ever. Because of this, it is hard to fully grasp the vast scope of his work. I only looked at five volumes of those thirty or more.
Related articles:
- What I am reading: the poetry of Les Murray – this includes a short bibliography of books consulted
- Â What I am reading: Les Murray: a Life in Progress – some comments on the life of Les Murray