This was a far more compelling need than it was in the old culture of England. The ferocity of the battle in recent times owes something to the extraordinary phenomenon of that same Les Murray. It is impossible for anyone, inside or outside Australia, to take their bearings without considering him. Perhaps we misread him somewhat because we can take the life-enhancing generosity of these poems and leave behind the more parochial struggles he is sometimes involved in. The postmodern pastoral, or anti-pastoral, mines rural Australia for its pungency but applies city modes of apprehension.
Generalisations are useful and necessary, but poets are always sui generis .
A few of the Landbridge poets are more likely to find readers beyond Australia than others. Alison Croggon owns a lengthy list of great influences, including Rilke, Bonnefoy and David Jones. Peter Porter's selection establishes the Australian Porter from the start with 'On Looking into Chapman's Hesiod', which at times you could mistake for Les Murray. A fairly safe prediction for the Millennium is that English will be liberated as an international language, and that the often defensive attitude of poets in Britain towards the internationalisation of poetry in English will necessarily fade away. Landbridge is due to be published in the U.K. by Arc.