SOURCE: Mishra, Vijay C. “Early Literary Responses to Charles Harpur.” Westerly no. 4 (December 1977): 88-93.

In the following essay, Mishra surveys the early responses to Harpur's poetry, concluding that the lavish praise Harpur received comments more upon the reviewers than on the poet himself.

There's a path to redemption—but that shall we miss, Till we seek it no more in the old warring manner

—Charles Harpur

‘… Australia has now produced a poet all her own, to atone for the indiscretions of poetasters among her adopted sons.’ So wrote Henry Parkes in his review of Charles Harpur's first published volume, Thoughts, A Series of Sonnets,¹ which appeared in the Register of 22 November 1845.² The enthusiasm with which Parkes greeted the publication of verses by a ‘native’ poet who had already made his presence felt through contributions to various magazines and newspapers in the colony,³ echoed the sentiments expressed in an...