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Criteria for Inclusion to the AGWP Canon

Five stages for inclusion

Opening Statement

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The following sections are important, because they help the researcher formulate a better understanding of the poet's place within the AGWP canon. The 5 points are perhaps arbitrarily compiled, but they cover all the important issues concerning any poet we might consider for inclusion to the AGWP canon. The criteria sets out a working field in which we may place the poets, as well as maintains strict borders, which manage to keep the canon free of poets who simply don't belong. For example, I have written hundreds of Great War poems, yet I cannot be included in this canon because I fail the set criteria. I may certainly be considered as a Quaternary Era poet, but that would be all. My AGWP status may look something like the following:

  1. Set Criteria

    1. Points 2 (writing about Australian Great War experience) and 3​ (born in Australia)

  2. Category

    1. 1 (ex-military)​

  3. Era

    1. 5 (Quaternary)​

  4. Source

    1. 2​a (Secondary Memory​ - This includes poets who directly experienced the subject matter of the poem, but writes about it long after the event.)

  5. Output

    1. 1 ​(Published - Newspapers, magazines, etc.​)

    2. 2 (Unpublished)

While I lack the most important sub-point 1 of the set criteria (writing between 1914-1919), my AGWP formula would read: {(SC-23)(C3)(E5)(S2a)(O1ab)}. Someone like Leon Gellert's AGWP formula would read: 1C29 – Leon Gellert – {(SC123)(C1)(E2abc)(S1)(O1)}. Note that Gellert has a "Poet Number" - 1C29. Only poets on the Canon or Register may have this number. In order to have this number, the poet must firstly have an SC12+.

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The Criteria for Inclusion

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Because of the parameters of this project, which, in part, is to formulate a comprehensive data-base of Australian Great War poetry, it became apparent very early in this research that there would need to be put in place a set of criteria and standards in which to operate. This criteria would also need to function as an operational tool by which Australian Great War poetry could be understood and studied. Therefore, the criteria should firstly act as a method of inclusion, followed by a categorisation of poets and finally as a well-structured data-base for further study of Australian Great War poetry. This would allow even further inclusion of other wars, such as World War Two.

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There are several anthologies of Australian war poetry, such as David Holloway’s ‘Dark Somme Flowing’ (1987), Wallace-Crabbe and Pierce’s ‘Clubbing of the Gunfire’ (1982), J.L. Laird’s ‘Other Banners’ (1871), Elliot and Mitchell’s ‘Bards in the Wilderness’ (1970), yet they all hold in common poets who were born outside Australia as a prominence. There are numerous other anthologies of Australian poetry in general, and they generally follow the same format of including foreign-born poets when it comes to the war.

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My first thought was that only Australia-born poets should be included, but it was realised that this would fail the overall project, which is rather more about Australian poetry. By Australian poetry, I mean that poetry whose subject is Australia. If this is the case, then it follows that I should include poets who were either not born in Australia, yet were raised there or lived there during the war, or, never lived in Australia, but wrote about Australia during the war.

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Soon the issue became quite complicated, but everything was then narrowed down to five main topics: Set Criteria, Categories, Era, Sources and Output. Each of these topics has sub-headings which identify the poet’s place. This format of poet identification makes further study easy to apprehend, easy to comprehend and easy to add to as new poets are uncovered by further research. To this end, then, when it comes to Australian Great War Poetry (AGWP) it is important to correctly identify each poet’s inclusion status so that a comprehensive, effective and informative data-base can be set up for the study of this subject. Further to this, the poet’s historic value and the poem’s provenance may be quickly ascertained.

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The five main points follow an intended order as well. If a poet passes the first point (Set Criteria), then this poet may be placed in the second point (Categories). Then the poet’s (Era) is determined, followed by the poet’s (Source) type and finally the poet’s (Output). Each of these things guide us as to the poet’s historic value. As we can see, the Set Criteria is the only ‘point of inclusion’. All of the other points are rather more ‘points of type’. So, poets must conform to the following standards (Set Criteria) in order to be included on any of the 8 AGWP lists (Categories). This must all be done before the poet may be added to the AGWP Register or the AGWP Canon.

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The following Standards for inclusion as an Australian Great War Poet, or Set Criteria, are of primary importance for this research. They are the basis for any sustained research into the subject of Australian Great War poetry, and should form the blueprint of any poet’s background as it pertains to AGWP. The poet then, must comply with points 1 and 2 of the Set Criteria, as well as any one of the numbers from 3 to 6.

 

Set Criteria

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The set criteria is the most important aspect when considering whether or not to include a poet into the AGWP canon. There are six criteria of which the poet must satisfy in order to be included. The set criteria is as follows:

  1. Writing between 1914 and 1939

    1. Writing before 1914, but indicating Australian involvement in the Great War (Prediction Poetry)​

  2. Writing about the Australian Great War experience

  3. Australian born

  4. Foreign born, but raised in Australia

  5. Foreign born, but living in Australia during the war

  6. Foreign born and raised, but writing about Australia

Of the six set criteria, the poet must fulfil points 1, 2 and one of the other four points.

 

Categories

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The categories are important because they help the researcher to place the poet. There are 9 categories.

  1. Active Soldier – This will also include correspondents and priests (chaplains) as sub-categories. Examples may include Leon Gellert, Frank Westbrook, Frederic Manning and Harley Matthews.

  2. Active Nurse – This will also include doctors and medical aids as sub-categories. Examples may include Christine Strom, Alice Ross-King and Mary Inger.

  3. Civilian Male – The only requirement is that this poet is not and was not a serving member of the active forces. Examples may include C.J. Dennis, John Le Gay Brereton, Henry Lawson and Edward Dyson.

  4. Civilian Female - The only requirement is that this poet is not and was not a serving member of the active forces. There can be sub-categories, such as, mothers, wives/sweethearts, single women and so on. Examples may include Mary Gilmore, May Kidson, Alice Gore-Jones and Dorothea McKellar.

  5. Unknown Service/Civilian – Male and Female poets believed to be Australian, but unknown as to whether ‘active’ or ‘civilian’. Examples may include Allan Douglas, Walter A. Gale, John Mansfield and Will Lawson.

  6. Foreign Pro-Australian – Poets who were not Australian in any way and did not live there, but wrote between 1914 and 1939 about Australia during WWI. Examples may include Arthur St. John Adcock, Henry Newbolt, Jessie Pope and Sylvia Hobday.

  7. Prediction Poetry – Poetry written prior to 1914 which gives some sort of prediction of the Great War of 1914 to 1918. Examples may include Charles Wentworth ‘Australasia’ (1823), Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant ‘When the Light is as Darkness’ (1892), Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant ‘While yet we May’ (1893), Henry Lawson ‘The Star of Australasia’ (1895) and Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant ‘At the River Crossing’ (1898).

  8. Anon – Poets who have fulfilled ‘set criteria’ points 1 and 2, but have either not supplied a name, or used the term ‘Anon’. Because of context or subject, it is believed that this category may fulfil the set criteria. There are numerous examples.

 

Era

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The era of the poet's writing is of vital importance, as it will go towards the poet's authority as a witness to the events of the poem. These eras set the difference between participation and memory. Of note, a poet can fulfil more than one era.

  1. Pre-War Era - Boer War to 1914 (National character and identity poems which impact on World War One. Also, poems that tend to predict this.)

  2. Primary Era - 1914-1919 (Direct WWI experience)

    1. Early Era - 1914-1915 (Declaration to Gallipoli evacuation)​

    2. Late Era - 1916-1918 (Post-Gallipoli to Armistice)

    3. Primary Post-War Era - 1919 (Armistice to Home)

  3. Secondary Era - 1919-1939 (Close memory of WWI without​ knowledge of WWII)

    1. Early Era - 1920-1929​

    2. Late Era - 1930-1939

  4. Tertiary Era - Post 1939 (Thoughts of WWI are tainted by living with WWII)

    1. There are many eras after WWII, but they don't concern this page

  5. Quaternary Era - Post living memory (This is poet-based, rather than year-based. Young soldiers fighting in WWII could be of this era if they were born after 1919

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Sources

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The sources of the poetry are important for obvious reasons, primarily because they show the poet's authority.

  1. Primary – Any poet who experienced the subject matter of the poem. This includes both ‘Active’ and ‘Civilian’ poets.

    1. Primary Memory - ​This includes poets who directly experienced the subject matter of the poem, but writes about it long after the event.

  2. Secondary – Any poet who writes about something they did not directly experience, but soon after the event.

    1. Secondary Memory​ - This includes poets who did not directly experience the subject matter of the poem, but writes about it long after the event.

 

Output

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The output of these poets differs a great deal. However, when considering them in terms of the general make-up of the AGWP canon, we may place the poetry output into the following structure:

  1. One or more books of poetry

    1. Published

    2. Unpublished

  2. More than 10 poems, but not a book​

    1. Published - Newspapers, magazines, etc.​

    2. Unpublished

  3. Between two and ten poems, but not a book​

    1. Published - Newspapers, ​magazines, etc.

    2. Unpublished

  4. One poem​

    1. Published - Newspapers, ​magazines, etc.

    2. Unpublished

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