Something absolutely splendid: CAL Chair in Poetry Lecture - Robert Adamson

Robert Adamson, Photo by Juno Gemes

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75:01s - 108MB - Transcript

The Copyright Agency Limited and UTS are pleased to present the first in a series of lectures by UTS Chair in Poetry Professor Robert Adamson.

Lecture overview:

"This is the first of six lectures where I will re-evaluate several great poets whose poetry has been unjustly under-rated. I want to look at how some of our finest poets are poets of ‘derivation’ as much as ‘inspiration’  and why these terms have become unfashionable. I will trace the ideas of reality and imagination in their poetry and what Wallace Stevens called ‘The Necessary Angel’. In the first lecture I will look closely at the life and work of Francis Webb and discuss how it came to influence my first book. I will reconsider the poets whose work has been brushed aside in the onward rush of the post-modern and fashion.  Judith Wright  said that Webb wrote in a landscape of  light and shadow, where his poems ‘tower like whirlwinds of words’, often difficult but always convincing. The poem is a medium for the life of the spirit and I will explore this concept in the first lecture using Francis Webb’s poems as examples" - Robert Adamson

Robert Adamson has published over 20 books of poetry including the triple prize-winning 1990 collection, The Clean Dark. His autobiography, Inside Out, was published in 2004. He was awarded the Christopher Brennan Award for a lifetime’s achievement. The Goldfinches of Baghdad was the Age Poetry Book of The Year in 2007. The Golden Bird won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry in 2009. In 2011 he was awarded the Patrick White Award and the Blake Prize for Poetry. His latest book of poetry, The Kingfisher's Soul, was published by Bloodaxe Books UK.

Funded by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Chair of Poetry, UTS is the first of its kind in Australia and is intended to promote the study, recognition and wider appreciation of poetry. Presented by The Copyright Agency Limited and UTS partnership, and supported by the UTS Centre for New Writing, Creative Practices and the Creative Practices and Cultural Economy Research Strength.