Biographical Note

Poems and Songs

by Henry KENDALL (1839 - 1882)

Henry Kendall was the first Australian poet to draw his inspiration from the life, scenery and traditions of the country. In the beginnings of Australian poetry the names of two other men stand with his—Adam Lindsay Gordon, of English parentage and education, and Charles Harpur, born in Australia a generation earlier than Kendall. Harpur's work, though lacking vitality, shows fitful gleams of poetic fire suggestive of greater achievement had the circumstances of his life been more favourable. Kendall, whose lot was scarcely more fortunate, is a true singer; his songs remain, and are likely long to remain, attractive to poetry lovers. - Summary by From the Introduction

Listen next episodes of Poems and Songs:
Achan , Aileen , Amongst the Roses , Bellambi's Maid , Bells Beyond the Forest , Clari , Doubting , Drowned at Sea , Ella with the Shining Hair , Etheline , Evening Hymn , Fainting by the Way , Footfalls , Geraldine , God Help Our Men at Sea , Harps We Love , In the Depths of a Forest , Kiama , Kooroora , Lurline , Morning in the Bush , Mountains , Sitting by the Fire , Song of the Cattle-Hunters , Stanzas , Sunset , The Ballad of Tanna , The Barcoo , The Curlew Song , The Fate of the Explorers , The Girl I Left Behind Me , The Maid of Gerringong , The Muse of Australia , The Opossum-Hunters , The Rain Comes Sobbing to the Door , The River and the Hill , The Wail in the Native Oak , The Wild Kangaroo , To Charles Harpur , Ulmarra , Under the Figtree , Urara , Waiting and Wishing , Watching , Wollongong