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Exploring Ordinary & Extraordinary in Andrew Taylor's Poetry: Study of Impossible Preludes, Lecture notes of Poetry

A scholarly article published in the european journal of language and literature studies, focusing on the poetry of australian author andrew taylor. The author, ryszard w. Wolny, discusses taylor's unique use of language and selection of topics that have earned him recognition as a significant living australian poet. The article delves into taylor's impossible preludes collection, highlighting the extraordinary elements embedded in the ordinariness of everyday life. The text also explores possible sources of taylor's idiosyncrasy.

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ISSN 2411-9598 (Print)
ISSN 2411-4103 (Online)
European Journal of
Language and Literature Studies
May - August 2019
Volume 5, Issue 2
63
Andrew Taylor: Australia’s Poet of the (Extra)Ordinary
Ryszard W. Wolny
School of English and American Studies, University of Opole
Abstract
Andrew Taylor (1940-) has been regarded as one of the most significant living Australian poets largely due to
the fact of his unusual use of the poetic language and the selection of topics. He undoubtedly belongs to the
group of the poets, like John Kinsella, who create mastery in their so-called ‘niche’ market, quietly continuing to
produce compositions of remarkable quality, and receiving national and international recognition for their
achievements. Andrew Taylor’s Impossible Preludes (Poems 2008-2014) is a unique and beautiful retrospective
on life, love and everything in between, with its full array of extraordinariness embedded in the ordinariness of
everyday life. Each line is a story within itself, painting a picture for the reader to follow as vividly as one might
expect in an art gallery. Every poem is full of colour and weight as it takes you on a journey into the mind of this
creative and talented individual. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to disclose these elements in Andrew Taylor’s
poetry that make it so extraordinary in its ordinariness and find out possible sources of this idiosyncrasy.
Keywords: Andrew Taylor, Australian poetry, extraordinary, ordinary
Introduction
Born and bred Australian, Taylor has developed an interest in the world within and without his homeland. In his previously
published volumes of poetry, such as Travelling (1986) or Sandstone (1995), his attention concentrates upon the homely
landscapes, either big Australian cities like Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide and Perth or he travels along country paths, in
bushland or the beach.
However, later volumes, such as Götterdämerung Café (2001), Rome (2005), Regret about the Wolves and Other
Poems (2006) or The Unhaunting (2009), take the reader to the world outside Australia, particularly to Germany
(Wiesbaden), Italy (Rome) or Poland (Opole). “Two Dates,” from the volume Impossible Preludes, is certainly a very unusual
poem not o nly because these “two dates” denote two different times though close to each other but rather because
they indicate two different spaces situated in two different geographical and climactic zones, one in Europe, Wiesbaden in
Germany, the home town of Taylor’s wife, and the other in Australia, Perth, W.A. where they spent two decades together.
The first part starts on the date marking the beginning of Northern hemisphere winter, 22 December:
“Two Dates”
1. 22 December 2011, Wiesbaden
So this is the official
start of winter.
Was that what Tuesday’s snow
was all about, not some meteorological mistake
or an over-eager Frau Holle
plucking her goose too soon?
Its tatty remnants still spread
pf3
pf4

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ISSN 2411-4103 (Online) Language and Literature Studies Volume 5, Issue 2

Andrew Taylor: Australia’s Poet of the (Extra)Ordinary

Ryszard W. Wolny

School of English and American Studies, University of Opole Abstract Andrew Taylor (1940-) has been regarded as one of the most significant living Australian poets largely due to the fact of his unusual use of the poetic language and the selection of topics. He undoubtedly belongs to the group of the poets, like John Kinsella, who create mastery in their so-called ‘niche’ market, quietly continuing to produce compositions of remarkable quality, and receiving national and international recognition for their achievements. Andrew Taylor’s Impossible Preludes (Poems 2008 - 2014) is a unique and beautiful retrospective on life, love and everything in between, with its full array of extraordinariness embedded in the ordinariness of everyday life. Each line is a story within itself, painting a picture for the reader to follow as vividly as one might expect in an art gallery. Every poem is full of colour and weight as it takes you on a journey into the mind of this creative and talented individual. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to disclose these elements in Andrew Taylor’s poetry that make it so extraordinary in its ordinariness and find out possible sources of this idiosyncrasy. Keywords: Andrew Taylor, Australian poetry, extraordinary, ordinary Introduction Born and bred Australian, Taylor has developed an interest in the world within and without his homeland. In his previously published volumes of poetry, such as Travelling (1986) or Sandstone (1995), his attention concentrates upon the homely landscapes, either big Australian cities like Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide and Perth or he travels along country paths, in bushland or the beach. However, later volumes, such as Götterdämerung Café (2001), Rome (2005), Regret about the Wolves and Other Poems (2006) or The Unhaunting (2009), take the reader to the world outside Australia, particularly to Germany (Wiesbaden), Italy (Rome) or Poland (Opole). “Two Dates,” from the volume Impossible Preludes, is certainly a very unusual poem not only because these “two dates” denote two different times – though close to each other – but rather because they indicate two different spaces situated in two different geographical and climactic zones, one in Europe, Wiesbaden in Germany, the home town of Taylor’s wife, and the other in Australia, Perth, W.A. where they spent two decades together. The first part starts on the date marking the beginning of Northern hemisphere winter, 22 December: “Two Dates”

  1. 22 December 2011, Wiesbaden So this is the official start of winter. Was that what Tuesday’s snow was all about, not some meteorological mistake or an over-eager Frau Holle plucking her goose too soon? Its tatty remnants still spread

ISSN 2411-4103 (Online) Language and Literature Studies Volume 5, Issue 2 like a picnic’s leftovers on the lawn, a robin warily inspecting them, while busy as usual blackbirds hop and pose. Even our squirrel is out a fluent darting redcoat in the rain. Parsifal go back to your shelter, your hoard of hazelnuts, before you catch cold. This is officially winter, you’re supposed to snooze. (13) The poet seems to be amazed at the sight of snow, so uncharacteristic of Australian landscape, particularly at that time of the year, when the Aussies prepare for Christmas at the beach and suffer from the heat. In contrast, the native German animals and birds prepare themselves for the winter sleep whereas patches on snow on the lawn recall the picnic leftovers in the poet’s mind. The other part of the poem takes us back to Australia in time to celebrate Australia Day not so much as the political or national holiday, but rather as a stunning summer contrast to European winter:

  1. Australia Day, Perth, 2012 You’d think the lawn would melt in this heat and trees burst into incandescence, the flippy tails of wagtails wilt and dangle and ants under paving too hot to touch would coalesce into tiny deposits of coal. People on the beach would bleach and generations hence children would scuff their ossified iPhones a few bones and a towel. Seven more days of this while Queensland’s flooded again! This is Australia and we accept thee for hotter and for colder for dryer and for wetter

ISSN 2411-4103 (Online) Language and Literature Studies Volume 5, Issue 2 great things, universal problems and dilemmas just in order to get his message across to his readers who need simplicity and straightforwardness in the times of complexity and perplexity. References [1] Taylor, Andrew. Impossible Preludes. Poems 2008- 2014. Witchcliffe: Margaret River Press, 2016. Bio-note Ryszard W. Wolny is Professor and Director, Institute of English and American Studies, University of Opole, Poland. His interests focus largely on British and Australian literature and culture. He is an author of about a hundred scholarly publications which include, among others, The Ruinous Anatomy: The Philosophy of Death in John Donne and the Earlier Seventeenth-century English Poetry and Prose (Perth, Western Australia, 1999), A Cry over the Abyss: The Discourse of Power in the Poetry of Robert Browning and Algernon Charles Swinburne (Opole 2004), Australia: Identity, Memory, Destiny (Opole 2008), Crosscurrents: Culture, Literature and Language (Kielce 2008), On Time: Reflections on Time in Culture, Literature and Language (Opole 2009), Culture and Postcolonial Studies (Kielce 2012). Within the last five years, he completed a monograph entitled Patrick White: Australia’s Poet of Mythical Landscapes of the Soul (Wrocław 2013) and edited (or co-edited) Evil Ugliness Disgrace in the Cultures of the West and East (Opole 2013), The Masks of Ugliness in Literary Narratives (Frankfurt 2013), Poisoned Cornucopia : Excess, Intemperance and Overabundance across Cultures and Literatures (Frankfurt 2014), Outlandish, Uncanny and Bizarre in Contemporary Western Culture (Wrocław 2016), Disease, Death and Decay (Opole 2018) and Redefining Australia: Historical Heritage and Contemporary Perspectives (special issue of Anglica, Warsaw 2019). Currently, he is working on Littoral Modernism: Patrick White’s Theatre of Australia (Frankfurt 2019). He is a co-editor of Peter Lang series Silesian Studies in Anglophone Cultures and Literature (with Ewa Kębłowska-Ławniczak). Ryszard W. Wolny is member of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English), EASA (European Association for the Study on Australia) and IAUPE (International Association of the University Professors of English, Chair of Australian Panel). In 2017, he was elected President of Polish Association for the Study of Australia and New Zealand and, in 2018, Vice- President of Polish Association of the Study of English. In the years 1992-2000, he undertook postgraduate studies at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. In 2019 he was a Visiting Professor to Edith Cowan University, Western Australia.