Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry
- The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Language, Text and Colony
- 2 British Speculations on Terra Australis and Romantic-Period Poetry
- 3 Poetry in the Penal Colony
- 4 Becoming Distinct
- 5 The Many-Voiced Charles Harpur
- 6 Anonymity and the Popular
- 7 Settler Labour Poetics and the National Imaginary at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
- 8 Children’s Poetry from 1840 to 1950
- 9 Australian Poetries of War and Conflict
- 10 ‘Poetry Is Its Own Advertisement’
- 11 The New Woman and Poetry (1885–1935)
- 12 Women Poets, Mobility and Being ‘In Between’
- 13 Fin-de-Siècle Symbolism and After
- 14 Kenneth Slessor’s Visualism
- 15 Surrealism and Australian Poetry
- 16 Gum Tears Which Are Also Real
- 17 The Mid Century Canon
- 18 Judith Wright
- 19 Oodgeroo Noonuccal
- 20 Aboriginal Song as Australian Poetry
- 21 Re-Imagining Place (1940–1990)
- 22 Australian Poetry and the Rise of a Suburban Quotidian (1950–2000)
- 23 The Three Ontologies of Regional Poetry
- 24 The Poetry of Antarctica
- 25 Poetry and the State (1945 to the Present)
- 26 Australian Expatriate Poets
- 27 Les Murray
- 28 Religion and Poetry in Australia
- 29 Francis Webb
- 30 Australian Poetry and Post-War Immigration from Europe
- 31 The Long 1970s and Print Culture
- 32 Australian Poets of the 1980s
- 33 Activism and the Eruption of Aboriginal Writing
- 34 Reading the Archive of Australian Feminist Poetry since 1970
- 35 Queer Poetry in Australia
- 36 Between Identity and Form
- 37 Poetry of the South West Asian and North African Diasporas
- 38 Transcultural Relations with Latin America
- 39 Performance Poetries
- 40 Long Form Poetry from the 1980s to the Present
- 41 From Conceptual to Concrete (1960–2020)
- 42 The Digital Era
- 43 The Earth Has Been Done
- 44 Contemporary Anthologies and the Question of Canonicity
- 45 New Dynamics in Twenty-First-Century Anthologies
- Index
- References
39 - Performance Poetries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 November 2025
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry
- The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Language, Text and Colony
- 2 British Speculations on Terra Australis and Romantic-Period Poetry
- 3 Poetry in the Penal Colony
- 4 Becoming Distinct
- 5 The Many-Voiced Charles Harpur
- 6 Anonymity and the Popular
- 7 Settler Labour Poetics and the National Imaginary at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
- 8 Children’s Poetry from 1840 to 1950
- 9 Australian Poetries of War and Conflict
- 10 ‘Poetry Is Its Own Advertisement’
- 11 The New Woman and Poetry (1885–1935)
- 12 Women Poets, Mobility and Being ‘In Between’
- 13 Fin-de-Siècle Symbolism and After
- 14 Kenneth Slessor’s Visualism
- 15 Surrealism and Australian Poetry
- 16 Gum Tears Which Are Also Real
- 17 The Mid Century Canon
- 18 Judith Wright
- 19 Oodgeroo Noonuccal
- 20 Aboriginal Song as Australian Poetry
- 21 Re-Imagining Place (1940–1990)
- 22 Australian Poetry and the Rise of a Suburban Quotidian (1950–2000)
- 23 The Three Ontologies of Regional Poetry
- 24 The Poetry of Antarctica
- 25 Poetry and the State (1945 to the Present)
- 26 Australian Expatriate Poets
- 27 Les Murray
- 28 Religion and Poetry in Australia
- 29 Francis Webb
- 30 Australian Poetry and Post-War Immigration from Europe
- 31 The Long 1970s and Print Culture
- 32 Australian Poets of the 1980s
- 33 Activism and the Eruption of Aboriginal Writing
- 34 Reading the Archive of Australian Feminist Poetry since 1970
- 35 Queer Poetry in Australia
- 36 Between Identity and Form
- 37 Poetry of the South West Asian and North African Diasporas
- 38 Transcultural Relations with Latin America
- 39 Performance Poetries
- 40 Long Form Poetry from the 1980s to the Present
- 41 From Conceptual to Concrete (1960–2020)
- 42 The Digital Era
- 43 The Earth Has Been Done
- 44 Contemporary Anthologies and the Question of Canonicity
- 45 New Dynamics in Twenty-First-Century Anthologies
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter considers the profound physical co-presence and ritual language in First Nations culture, the role of poetry readings at formal occasions, folk ballads in early settler culture, and the continuing popularity of bush poetry today. It traces the emergence of performance poetry, as it is most well known, in the 1970s, discussing how it became a way for many to articulate lived experiences that were otherwise silenced in written form. Links to community and a curious general public are detailed. The chapter discusses the establishment of the Australian Poets Union and the relation of live poetry to little magazines. It considers the expansion and diversification of live poetry in the 1980s, and the fostering of vernacular and everyday experience as street poetry. It then discusses growing institutional recognition, including the creation of state poetry festivals and the increasing recognition of sound poetry. The chapter analyses the alignment of performance poetry with DIY aesthetics, disruptions of the global, branching into music and the rise of poetry slams. It concludes by reflecting on how performance poetry has been powerfully shaped by First Nations and culturally diverse poets.
Keywords
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- The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry , pp. 728 - 748Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Select BibliographY
Bucknell, Mar, Fifty Words for Sand: A History of Live Poetry in Western Australia 1829–2021, Welshpool: Eleutheria, 2022.Google Scholar
Hall-Downs, Liz, ‘Off the Page, On the Stage: Poetry and Performance’, Thylazine 5, 2002, n.p.Google Scholar
Jones, Katelyn and Scott Curwood, Jen, ‘Tell the Story, Speak the Truth: Creating a Third Space through Spoken Word Poetry’, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 64.3, 2020, pp. 281–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, Jeri, ‘The Two Lives of Poetry: Out of the Reading and Onto the Page’, Southerly 57.1, 1997, pp. 38–50.Google Scholar
Morrisson, Mark, ‘Performance Poetry and Counter-Public Spheres: Geoff Goodfellow and Working-Class Voices’, Labour History 79, 2000, pp. 71–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myfany, Turpin, ‘Alyawarr Women’s Song-Poetry of Central Australia’, Australian Aboriginal Studies, 1, 2015, pp. 66–96.Google Scholar
Xerri, Daniel, ‘Combating Voice Poetry through Spoken Word Poetry: An Interview with Candy Royalle’, Journal of Poetry Therapy 30.4, 2017, pp. 262–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xerri, Daniel,‘“Poetry Really Does Educate”: An Interview with Spoken Word Poet Luka Lesson’, English in Australia 51.1, 2016, pp. 18–24.Google Scholar
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