Collected Poems: Lesbia Harford

by Oliver Dennis (Editor)

Lesbia Harford (1891-1927) has occupied only a small place in Australian literary history. For decades, she was utterly forgotten, yet, when she died at 36, she left behind three notebooks containing some of the finest lyric poems ever written in Australia. Harford's writing looks both forwards and backwards, blending Pre-Raphaelite influences and plain-speaking with unusual subtlety. At the same time, she was bound inextricably to the period in which she lived. War in Europe, changing attitudes to religion, the suffrage movement, and widespread social upheaval all helped make her one of the first, truly modern, urban figures in Australian poetry. Of the nearly 400 poems in manuscript, just over half are reproduced in this present collection. Of these, roughly one-third have not appeared in print before.

Genres: Poetry, Australia

164 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love my dead bisexual communist Melburnian comrade and her sentimental verse about PMS, ambivalence towards being in love, and not knowing what to do with free time

[Tegan (Slant Postscripts) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in awe of this collection and can’t believe that it doesn’t get more attention in the literary history of women writers in Australia. Written between approximately 1908-1927, Harford uses verse to parse the large-scale world occurrences of modern industrialism, war, and religious shifts but in a personal and intimate way. Having published barely any of her work during her lifetime, there is a sense of Emily Dickinson about her private and vulnerable poeticism. Harford, who died relatively young, was a queer feminist, social activist, and unionist during the 36 years she was alive, and these values pulse through her verse. There is a beauty in the simplicity of her portrayal of bisexuality, that is both explicit and presumed. Her earlier poem ‘In the Public Library’ would be a wonderful companion piece to Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Room of One’s Own’. The poems are literary, philosophical, and use evocative images of modernity as well as nature. Yet they are also often relevant and universal, a testament to the quality of these lyrical pieces.

On a publishing note, I wish that each poem was dated and I feel that perhaps the publisher could have cross co-ordinated the two introductions better as they both repeat multiple things despite being relatively short.

[Kiwifurby · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this poetry collection with the whole heart (and the comrade herself). it’s beyond wonderful to read the experiences of a queer communist a hundred years ago as she does things such as go to the library i go to or a tram i go on, and it allows for me to connect with my history in ways that i haven’t before. anyway, would highly recommend for a queer kid in melbourne