Between Two Tides

Between Two Tides (1952) is a long narrative poem by Australian poet R. D. Fitzgerald, which included illustrations by Norman Lindsay. It won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1952.Austlit - Between Two Tides by R. D. Fitzgerald

Outline

The poem is "drawn from An Account of the Natives of the Tongan Islands by J. M. Martin (1817)", which "Fitzgerald had worked on intermittently over many years". "In five parts, the poem relates and discusses the life and exploits of Will Mariner, a young sailor on the privateer Port au Prince, which was attacked and burned by Tongan natives in 1806."The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, 2nd edition, p281

Reviews

A reviewer in The Sydney Morning Herald noted that the "theme of the eternally troubled mind with which man regards his destiny is not too profound to overload a simple narrative. Here is a story-poem which will please those whose palates have never become too sophisticated to reject the flavour of Treasure Island or Masefield's Dauber.""Reviews in Brief", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 December 1952, p8

Awards

1952 - winner Grace Leven Prize for Poetry

See also 1952 in poetry 1952 in literature 1952 in Australian literature

References