A Coast View Explained

"A Coast View" (1857) is a poem by Australian poet Charles Harpur, also known by the title "Coast Scenery".^[1]

It was originally published in The Empire on 28 March 1857,^[2] and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.

In this poem Harpur views a coastal scene with rapture and awe, but also a certain touch of fear and trepidation.

Critical reception

In her essay titled "Imitation and Originality in Australian Colonial Poetry: The Case of Charles Harpur" Leonie Kramer notes: "In poems such as 'A Coast View' or 'The Bush Fire' ... Harpur's originality consists in his thoughtful choice of poetic form ('The Bush Fire', like 'The Creek of the Four Graves' develops an action, but reaches beyond it) and in the way he organizes his poetic language so that it can range from a relatively unadorned narrative style to the heightened diction which always accompanies, though not always with equal force or conviction, his approach to the subject of transcendence or to the wonders and terrors of nature."^[3]

Publication history

After the poem's initial publication in The Empire newspaper in 1857 it was reprinted as follows:

• An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Bertram Stevens, Angus and Robertson, 1907
• The Golden Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Bertram Stevens, Angus and Robertson, 1909^[4]
• A Treasury of Colonial Poetry, Currawong, 1982^[5]
• The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur edited by Elizabeth Perkins, Angus and Robertson, 1984^[6]
• Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011^[7]

Note

• This poem appears in a number of versions from 1857 onwards. For further details, see The Poems of Charles Harpur in Manuscript in the Mitchell Library and in Publication in the Nineteenth Century: An Analytical Finding List by Elizabeth Holt and Elizabeth Perkins (Canberra: Australian Scholarly Editions Centre, 2002).

See also

• 1857 in Australian literature
• 1857 in poetry

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — "A Coast View" by Charles Harpur . Austlit. 2 October 2024.
2. Web site: "Coast Scenery" . Empire. 28 March 1857. The Empire 28 March 1857, p5. 2 October 2024.
3. Book: Kramer, Leonie . 2 October 2024 . Imitation and Originality in Australian Colonial Poetry: The Case of Charles Harpur . The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 13, Colonial and Imperial Themes Special Number . 116-132.
4. Web site: The Golden Treasury of Australian Verse (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 2 October 2024.
5. Web site: A Treasury of Colonial Poetry (Currawong) . National Library of Australia. 2 October 2024.
6. Web site: The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur edited by Elizabeth Perkins (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 2 October 2024.
7. Web site: Australian Poetry Since 1788 (UNSW Press) . National Library of Australia. 3 October 2024.