Up The Country

"Up The Country" is a popular poem by iconic Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in "The Bulletin" magazine on July 9 1892, under the title "Borderland," and famously started the Bulletin Debate, a series of poems by both Lawson and Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson about the true nature of life in the Australian bush.

In "Up The Country," Lawson recounts his trip to the barren and gloomy Australian bush, and criticises "City Bushmen" such as Banjo Paterson who tended to romanticize bush life. [ [http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/lawson/ Henry Lawson: Australian Writer] Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal]

Paterson later responded with a poem of his own, entitled "In Defense of the Bush," in which he accused Lawson of representing bush life as nothing but doom and gloom, famously ending with the line "For the bush will never suit you, and you'll never suit the bush." [ [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/In_Defense_Of_The_Bush Wikisource article - "In Defense of the Bush" by Banjo Paterson] ]

Publication Details

*Written by Henry Lawson
*First Published: "The Weekly Bulletin," 9 July 1892
*"Source: "In The Days When The World Was Wide, And Other Stories, 1892

ee also

* Henry Lawson
* The Bulletin Debate
* "In Defense of the Bush"

References