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Quiz about Well Known Australian Poets
Quiz about Well Known Australian Poets

Well Known Australian Poets Trivia Quiz


There's more to Australian Poetry than "The Man From Snowy River"!

A multiple-choice quiz by natsim. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
natsim
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
103,237
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
423
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. "On the fields of Col'raine there'll be labour in vain
Before the Great Western is ended,
The nags will have toil'd, and the silks will be soil'd,
And the rails will require to be mended."
Which horse-racing Australian poet, born in 1833 in England, wrote this?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Which deaf balladeer and short story writer, born on a gold field in New South Wales in 1867, penned these lines:
"Our Andy's gone to battle now
'Gainst Drought, the red marauder;
Our Andy's gone with cattle now
Across the Queensland border"
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains"
Who wrote this stanza?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "We are the sons of Australia,
Of the men who fashioned the land,
We are the sons of the women
Who walked with them, hand in hand;
And we swear by the dead who bore us,
By the heroes who blazed the trail,
No foe shall gather our harvest,
Or sit on our stockyard rail."

Which poet, born in New South Wales in 1864, wrote these lines? Hint



Question 5 of 10
5. Who wrote "The Man from Snowy River"? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This poet, who was also a critic, fiction writer and editor changed the face of popular Australian poetry in the immediate post-war period with the book of religious and secular poems "Five Senses". Here is a quote from the poem "The Lost Man":
"To go by the way he went you must find beneath you
that last and faceless pool, and fall. And falling
find between breath and death
the sun by which you live."
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. "There is a moment when the pelvis
Explodes like a grenade. I

Who have lived in the shadow that each act
Casts on the next act now emerge As loyal as the thistle that in session
Puffs its full seed upon the indicative air.
I have split the infinitive. Beyond is anything."
This poem was written by reputedly Australia's "first Modernist Poet". His work was published in the 1940s in a special edition of the poetry journal "Angry Penguins". The only problem was... this poet never existed!
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. "Orders is orders, I said after it was over
nothing personal you understand - we had a
drill-sergeant once thought he was God but he wasn't
a patch on you"
(from "And a Good Friday was had by all") Which working-class poet, born in Geelong in 1930, wrote these lines about the Crucifixion of Christ?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "The word goes round Repins, the murmur goes round Lorenzinis,
At Tattersalls, men look up from sheets of numbers,
The Stock Exchange scribblers forget the chalk in their hands
And men with bread in their pockets leave the Greek Club:
There's a fellow crying in Martin Place. They can't stop him."
Which poet, born on the Northern Coast of New South Wales in 1938 penned these lines about a man who saw "an absolutely ordinary rainbow"?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Another living poet, this poet is a Professor at Monash University, and one of my favourite poets. Here's a quote:
"One day the gift arrives - outside your door,
Left on a windowsill, inside the mailbox,
Or in a hallway, far too large to lift.
Your postman shrugs his shoulder, police
consult a statute, and the cat maiows,
No name, no signature, no address."
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "On the fields of Col'raine there'll be labour in vain
Before the Great Western is ended,
The nags will have toil'd, and the silks will be soil'd,
And the rails will require to be mended."
Which horse-racing Australian poet, born in 1833 in England, wrote this?


Answer: Adam Lindsay Gordon

There is a statue of Adam Lindsay Gordon at Parliament House in Melbourne. He led a fairly unfortunate life, and suicided at the age of 37 at Brighton Beach in Melbourne. Henry Kendall was a contemporary of Adam Lindsay Gordon.
2. Which deaf balladeer and short story writer, born on a gold field in New South Wales in 1867, penned these lines:
"Our Andy's gone to battle now
'Gainst Drought, the red marauder;
Our Andy's gone with cattle now
Across the Queensland border"


Answer: Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson's portrait was on the old Australian ten dollar note. A. B. "Banjo" Patterson, C. J. Dennis and Barcroft Boake are all poets of the same era.
3. "I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains"
Who wrote this stanza?


Answer: Dorothea Mackellar

Dorothea MacKellar was only 19 when she wrote "My Country". There is a statue of her on horseback in Gunnedah, NSW. The other poets listed are all from the same era.
4. "We are the sons of Australia,
Of the men who fashioned the land,
We are the sons of the women
Who walked with them, hand in hand;
And we swear by the dead who bore us,
By the heroes who blazed the trail,
No foe shall gather our harvest,
Or sit on our stockyard rail."

Which poet, born in New South Wales in 1864, wrote these lines?

Answer: Mary Gilmore

Dame Mary Gilmore is depicted on the new ten dollar note. She worked hard for better health care for rural Australians. George Essex Evans was another poet from the same era. He wrote "The Women of the West".
5. Who wrote "The Man from Snowy River"?

Answer: "Banjo" Paterson

A. B. "Banjo" Paterson wrote many ballads and poems, including some very funny ones, like "Mulga Bill's Bicycle". The other poets listed wrote some similar poems in the same era, but no-one wrote about "wild bush horses" like "Banjo" Paterson.
6. This poet, who was also a critic, fiction writer and editor changed the face of popular Australian poetry in the immediate post-war period with the book of religious and secular poems "Five Senses". Here is a quote from the poem "The Lost Man":
"To go by the way he went you must find beneath you
that last and faceless pool, and fall. And falling
find between breath and death
the sun by which you live."


Answer: Judith Wright

Judith Wright was also an active Aboriginal rights activist, and much of her poetry reflects this concern. Her last public appearance before her death (at the age of 85) was at a rally for reconciliation with the Australian Aboriginal community. The other three poets were writing poetry during the same era: Max Harris was a modernist from Adelaide, Gwen Harwood a lyric poet from Brisbane. A.D. Hope is most similar to Judith Wright, he wrote on similar issues of human experience and sadly, they both died in 2000.
7. "There is a moment when the pelvis
Explodes like a grenade. I
Who have lived in the shadow that each act
Casts on the next act now emerge As loyal as the thistle that in session
Puffs its full seed upon the indicative air.
I have split the infinitive. Beyond is anything."
This poem was written by reputedly Australia's "first Modernist Poet". His work was published in the 1940s in a special edition of the poetry journal "Angry Penguins". The only problem was... this poet never existed!


Answer: Ern Malley

James McAuley and Harold Stewart who invented Ern Malley hated the Modernist movement and played this trick on Max Harris, editor of "Angry Penguins" by sending him the "lost poems" of Ern Malley. Some people say Malley's poems were the best ever written by McAuley and Stewart! Bruce Beaver is a living modernist poet, who writes much better than Ern Malley. I made up the name "Bunyip" Baker!
8. "Orders is orders, I said after it was over
nothing personal you understand - we had a
drill-sergeant once thought he was God but he wasn't
a patch on you"
(from "And a Good Friday was had by all") Which working-class poet, born in Geelong in 1930, wrote these lines about the Crucifixion of Christ?


Answer: Bruce Dawe

Bruce Dawe is one of Australia's best known "larrikin poets". He uses everyday Australian speech to explore some pretty deep philosophical and social issues. David Martin and Geoffrey Dutton are poets of the same era. David Martin also wrote plays and short stories, while Geoffrey Dutton was another editor of "The Angry Penguins" journal.
9. "The word goes round Repins, the murmur goes round Lorenzinis,
At Tattersalls, men look up from sheets of numbers,
The Stock Exchange scribblers forget the chalk in their hands
And men with bread in their pockets leave the Greek Club:
There's a fellow crying in Martin Place. They can't stop him."
Which poet, born on the Northern Coast of New South Wales in 1938 penned these lines about a man who saw "an absolutely ordinary rainbow"?


Answer: Les Murray

A full collection of Les Murray's poems has just been published:
Poems the Size of Photographs; Collected Poems 1961-2002. Jeff Guess is a poet and English teacher who lives in Adelaide.
10. Another living poet, this poet is a Professor at Monash University, and one of my favourite poets. Here's a quote:
"One day the gift arrives - outside your door,
Left on a windowsill, inside the mailbox,
Or in a hallway, far too large to lift.
Your postman shrugs his shoulder, police
consult a statute, and the cat maiows,
No name, no signature, no address."


Answer: Kevin Hart

"Only, 'to you, my dearest one, my all....'
One day it fits snugly in your pocket,
Then fills the backyard like afternoon in Spring."

Hope this inspires you to read some poetry! Peter Goldsworthy and David Malouf are both living poets and authors. Peter Goldsworthy wrote "Honk if you are Jesus" and David Malouf wrote "An Imaginary Life".
Source: Author natsim

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor nerthus before going online.
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