The Roaring Days Explained

"The Roaring Days" (1889) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.^[1]

It was originally published in The Bulletin on 21 December 1889, and subsequently reprinted in a collection of the author's poems, other newspapers and periodicals and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.

Critical reception

When reviewing Lawson's poetry collection In the Days when the World was Wide and Other Verses, a writer in The Evening News (Sydney) noted: "Mr. Lawson is not, indeed, likely to be ever revealed in the character of a master singer, but so far as he goes he is really a minstrel of native fire, and not like a good many who pretend to that character, a merely ingenious imitator or adaptor of other people's ideas."^[2]

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states that "The Roaring Days" is "a phrase referring nostalgically to the gold rushes. Its best-known literary use is in Henry Lawson's poem, 'The Roaring Days', written from Lawson's boyhood memories of Gulgong and Pipeclay."^[3]

Publication history

After the poem's initial publication in The Bulletin it was reprinted as follows:

• In the Days When the World was Wide and Other Verses, 1900
• Selected Poems of Henry Lawson by Henry Lawson, Angus and Robertson, 1918^[4]
• Winnowed Verse by Henry Lawson, Angus and Robertson, 1924^[5]
• Selections from Australian Poets edited by Bertram Stephens and George Mackaness, Cornstalk Publishing, 1925^[6]
• Australian Bush Songs and Ballads edited by Will Lawson, Frank Johnson, 1944^[7]
• An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by George Mackaness, Angus & Robertson, 1952^[8]
• A Book of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1956^[9]
• New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Judith Wright, Oxford University Press, 1957^[10]
• Favourite Australian Poems edited by Ian Mudie, Rigby, 1963^[11]
• Silence Into Song : An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Clifford O'Brien, Rigby, 1968^[12]
• Australian Kaleidoscope edited by Barbara Ker Wilson, Collins, 1968^[13]
• This Land : An Anthology of Australian Poetry for Young People edited by M. M. Flynn and J. Groom, Pergamon Press, 1968^[14]
• Poems of Henry Lawson edited by Walter Stone, Ure Smith, 1973^[15]
• The World of Henry Lawson edited by Walter Stone, Hamlyn, 1974^[16]
• The Essential Henry Lawson : The Best Works of Australia's Greatest Writer edited Brian Kiernan, Currey O'Neil, 1982^[17]
• A Campfire Yarn : Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900 edited by Leonard Cronin, Lansdowne, 1984^[18]
• Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984^[19]
• The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads edited by Elizabeth Webby and Philip Butterss, Penguin, 1993^[20]
• Classic Australian Verse edited by Maggie Pinkney, Five Mile Press, 2001^[21]
• Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011^[22]

See also

• 1889 in Australian literature
• 1889 in poetry

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — "The Roaring Days" by Henry Lawson . Austlit. 4 October 2023.
2. Web site: "Recent Publications" . The Evening News, 15 February 1896, p4. 4 October 2023.
3. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, p591
4. Web site: Selected Poems of Henry Lawson (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
5. Web site: Winnowed Verse (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
6. Web site: Selections from Australian Poets (Cornstalk Publishing) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
7. Web site: Australian Bush Songs and Ballads (Frank Johnson) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
8. Web site: An Anthology of Australian Verse (George Mackaness) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
9. Web site: A Book of Australian Verse (OUP) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
10. Web site: New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse (OUP) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
11. Web site: Favourite Australian Poems (Rigby) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
12. Web site: Silence Into Song : An Anthology of Australian Verse (Rigby) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
13. Web site: Australian Kaleidoscope (Collins) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
14. Web site: This Land : An Anthology of Australian Poetry for Young People (Pergamon Press) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
15. Web site: Poems of Henry Lawson (Ure Smith) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
16. Web site: The World of Henry Lawson (Hamlyn) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
17. Web site: The Essential Henry Lawson (Currey O'Neil) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
18. Web site: A Campfire Yarn : Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900 (Lansdowne) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
19. Web site: Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse (Heinemann) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
20. Web site: The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads (Penguin) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
21. Web site: Classic Australian Verse (Five Mile Press) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.
22. Web site: Australian Poetry Since 1788 (UNSW Press) . National Library of Australia. 4 October 2023.