"This extensive collection of critical readings of Kenneth Slessor's work includes much of the "classic" work on Slessor as well as new essays that bring fresh perspectives to his poetry."--BOOK JACKET. "The collection begins with Jack Lindsay's 1952 reminiscence of Slessor and the 1920s, and includes still-influential readings by Vincent Buckley, Adrian Mitchell, Judith Wright, A. K. Thomson, John Docker and Andrew Taylor. Slessor's contentious reply to Lindsay is also included."--BOOK JACKET. "In the new essays, Kate Lilley rereads Slessor's fascination with elegy in terms of contemporary theoretical concerns; Peter Kirkpatrick reconsiders Slessor's considerable output of light verse in relation to his other writing and to the cultural milieu of the 1920s and 1930s; Greg Badcock demonstrates how Slessor's modernism is as much a product of his time in Melbourne as it is of his Sydney experience; and Julian Croft reads Slessor's work in terms of the all-important modernist paradigm. Dennis Haskell presents a detailed reading of Slessor's composition techniques, and Leigh Dale rereads Slessor's work within the framework of gender theory."--BOOK JACKET. "Philip Mead's introductory essay uncovers some of the tensions of ancestry and language in early Slessor that have been overlooked in critics' over-emphasis on the late poetry."--BOOK JACKET. "Illustrations from Slessor's manuscripts and from newspapers are included along with a select bibliography."--BOOK JACKET.