Steven Matthews, Les Murray. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001. ISBN - 0522850057 [Book review]

Randall Jarrell’s incisive remark applies all too well to Les Murray, certainly Australia’s most recognised and recognisable living poet, though it seems that few in the wider community could point to a poem or book, in particular, that earned him the title. That said, it was at least for having written something that Murray came to the attention of the Australian public. His work on a proposed pre-amble for the Australian constitution in 1998, both underwritten and over-seen by John Howard’s prosaic and ideologically cramped hand, caused something of a stir in republican and literary circles. Neither the poetic virtues nor the political sentiment of the preamble stand much critical scrutiny but, in a way, the discussion that ensued from the episode was merely the most public manifestation of a debate that Murray’s work has provoked almost from the beginning. In essence, both critics and admirers have continuously argued over how much Murray’s poetry is informed, and perhaps even deformed, by his politics. As Matthews puts it, Murray’s “poetic gift, when treating his ‘proper’ subjects was to set him above other Australian poets, both contemporary and earlier. Yet, on the other hand, his work was often perceived to cross the boundaries into political immediacy and republican advocacy, a feature which was perceived to weaken it” (149).