Last poems of Shaw Neilson

Component identifier:

Item 48

Content Summary:

Typescripts made by James Devaney. Altogether typescripts of nine poems, some of which are uncompleted. They are accompanied by letters from James Devaney to H.F. Chaplin. One extract: "Here are most of the poems dictated by Shaw Neilson to me, during his visit to us in Queensland, less than a year before he died, and which you have so often asked about. I never intended to publish them because they were done when he was old, and ill, and therefore they do not belong to his real work. But you are right in saying that 'any Neilson stuff is of interest' and so I pass them on to you as promised".

Included with them are typescripts of two poems: The Good Men Made the Wine, and Saint Dorothy, which were begun while Neilson was staying with James Devaney but not completed. Later, when the poet was on a visit to Frank Francis, at Nundah, he took them up again, and carried them to completion in versions completely different from the earlier drafts. Through the kindness of Frank Francis who sent me the scripts, I am able to include them.

Names:

John Shaw Neilson

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