"Because" is a poem by Australian poet James McAuley.
It was first published in the anthology Australian Poetry 1968 edited by Dorothy Auchterlonie, and later in several of the author's collections and in other Australian poetry anthologies.
Outline The poet looks back at his childhood, and at his parents, and notes that they lived a life of restraint, duty and self-discipline that was very prevalent in Australia between the World Wars. They were good people, with limitations.
Analysis Noel Rowe wrote about McAuley's poetry in an essay for Southerly titled "James McAuley: The Possibility of Despair" and commented that the poem "wants a final reason for human sorrow", and that "it seems to be coming to terms with limited parents and limited love".
In his commentary on the poem in 60 Classic Australian Poems Geoff Page noted that "McAuley seems almost to be musing to himself – or, perhaps more accurately, confiding to a trusted friend about the limitations of his childhood and their permanent impact."60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009, pp 112-115
Further publications After its initial publication in the Australian Poetry 1968 anthology in 1968, the poem was reprinted as follows:
Surprises of the Sun by James McAuley, Angus and Robertson, 1969 Collected Poems 1936-1970 by James McAuley, Angus and Robertson, 1971 The Penguin Book of Australian Verse edited by Harry Heseltine, Penguin Books, 1972 Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, 1976 The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry edited by Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Melbourne University Press, 1980 The Collins Book of Australian Poetry edited by Rodney Hall, Collins, 1981 The World's Contracted Thus edited by J. A. McKenzie and J. K. McKenzie, Heinemann Education, 1983 The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984 Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984 My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer, Lansdowne, 1985 The New Oxford Book of Australian Verse edited by Les Murray, Oxford University Press, 1986 Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Mark O’Connor, Oxford University Press, 1988 James McAuley: Poetry, Essay and Personal Commentary edited by Leonie Kranmer, University of Queensland Press, 1988 The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Ken L. Goodwin and Alan Lawson, Macmillan, 1990 The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry edited by John Tranter and Philip Mead, Penguin, 1991 Australian Poetry in the Twentieth Century edited by Robert Gray and Geoffrey Lehmann, Heinemann, 1991 Collected Poems by James McAuley, Angus and Robertson, 1994 Fivefathers : Five Australian Poets of the Pre-Academic Era edited by Les Murray, Carcanet, 1994 The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse edited by Peter Porter, Oxford University Press, 1996 Family Ties : Australian Poems of the Family edited by Jennifer Strauss, Oxford University Press, 1998 Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard, Oxford University Press, 1998 Seven Centuries of Poetry in English edited by John Leonard, Oxford University Press, 2003 The Canberra Times 4 June 2005 80 Great Poems from Chaucer to Now edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2006 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant, 2008 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page, University of NSW Press, 2009 The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Leonard, Puncher & Wattmann, 2009 Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011
Note You can read the full text of the poem on the Poem Hunter website
See also 1968 in poetry 1968 in literature 1968 in Australian literature Australian literature
References