Essay
Steps to Parnassus: Martin Johnston’s The Sea-Cucumber
Westerly, Vol.66(1), pp.60-76
University of Western Australia * Westerly Centre
Winter 2021
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Abstract
Martin Johnston (1947-1990) left behind a slim oeuvre of remarkable poems, lauded for their wit and erudition. The publication in 2020 of Beautiful Objects (ed. Nadia Wheatley) – selected poems – and a memorial website marked the thirtieth anniversary of his death, but critics are still largely coming to terms with Johnston’s legacy. Since the publication of Selected Poems & Prose (ed John Tranter) in 1993, critical writing and scholarship have tended to focus on his later work. The second of the three collections Johnston published in his lifetime, The Sea-Cucumber (1978), has received far less critical attention. In redressing this neglect through an in-depth treatment of the book, I argue that The Sea-Cucumber not only displays great formal variety but includes much of Johnston’s strongest poetry, a fact that has been borne out by the diverse choices anthologists have made from this collection. This essay also addresses Johnston’s prodigious development as a poet. Set against the title’s mixed reception, I contend that The Sea-Cucumber was the volume that marked Johnston’s arrival as a significant Australian poet. The essay addresses the evolution of Johnston’s poetry from his debut collection onwards. I focus on his embrace of a looser, conversational style, and his experimentation with form: namely, his digressive conversational lyrics, his use of rhyming patterned forms, and the multi-part longer form poem. These developments are considered in the context of his milieu and literary influences, and the achievement of Johnston’s later work.
Details
- Title
- Steps to Parnassus: Martin Johnston’s The Sea-Cucumber
- Creators
- Aidan Coleman
- Publication Details
- Westerly, Vol.66(1), pp.60-76
- Publisher
- University of Western Australia * Westerly Centre
- Identifiers
- 991013100812802368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Essay