COLLECTED POEMS AND OTHER WRITINGS
R.G. MENZIES
Edited by William Cook, Georgina Downer and Victoria Hronas
With a Foreword by Dr Stephen McInerney
August 2024 release
Hardback, 124 pages, $39.95
ISBN 9781923224452
Published by Jeparit Press: Jeparit Press is an imprint of Connor Court Publishing in conjunction
with The Robert Menzies Institute, Melbourne.
Robert Menzies was arguably Australia’s greatest political orator, but how did he develop his magnificent way with words?
The language of the ‘Forgotten People’ has etched itself permanently
in the Australian political lexicon, but few realise that Menzies
learned to write speeches in part by writing verse. This new poetry
collection brings to light Menzies’s hidden artistry, from childhood
rhymes about football to witty parodies of his political rivals. In
doing so, it offers a new window into the great man, and the early
twentieth century Australia in which he thrived.
'Collected Poems and Other Writings' features poems written by Robert
Menzies, sourced from the Menzies Collection at the University of
Melbourne, the Menzies Papers in the National Library of Australia,
private family papers, and other published materials. Some poems are
short and heartfelt, for friends and family. Others are long, brimming
with rhythmic commentary to be read aloud to an attentive audience. They
all offer a rare glimpse into a moment in time otherwise lost, where
Menzies’s thoughts were so overpowering, they could only be expressed
through the art of poetry.
This collection was edited by Georgina Downer, William Cook, and
Victoria Hronas with a foreword by Dr Stephen Mclnerney. Stephen is Dean
of Studies, and an Associate Professor of Literature at Campion
College, and in 2012 was awarded the Theological Studies Prize and
Lightfoot Prize at the University of Cambridge for his academic works.
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