Australian poetry classics: John Forbes’ On the Beach exposes the nation’s myths of convenience

John Forbes, an influential Australian poet who died at forty-seven in nineteen ninety-eight, is experiencing renewed recognition. The Conversation reports that his Collected Poems recently went into a fifth reprinting, and in twenty twenty-seven, both a new biography and an anthology of his prose writings will be published. Forbes is best known for "On the Beach," the centerpiece of his nineteen eighty-eight collection "The Stunned Mullet." Written as a bicentennial commission, the poem uses irony and fragmentation to critique Australia's sanitized official history, searching for a model of the nation that might actually be credible—rejecting the strained metaphors that no longer convince. Beyond his own work, Forbes was a prolific mentor to Australian poets and an influential editor whose taste and reviews shaped the country's literary landscape.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton