Ronald Albert Simpson (1 February 1929 – 2 October 2002) was an Australian poet and poetry editor, artist and art lecturer. He was one of the Melbourne poets, and had a long tenure as poetry editor of ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

''.

Life

Simpson was born in Melbourne. He studied at the

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scie ...

and studied art under George Bell. He taught at schools in England and Australia. In 1968 he was appointed lecturer in art at Melbourne's Chisholm Institute of Technology. He retired in 1987, and died in 2002.

Writing career

Simpson was one of a group of Melbourne poets, including

Chris Wallace-Crabbe Christopher Keith Wallace-Crabbe (born 6 May 1934) is an Australian poet and emeritus professor in the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne. Life and career Wallace-Crabbe was born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. His father was Ke ...

Vincent Buckley Vincent Thomas Buckley (8 July 1925 – 12 November 1988) was an Australian poet, teacher, editor, essayist and critic. Life Buckley was born in 1925 in Romsey, Victoria to Patrick Buckley, a carter and sometime farm labourer, and his wife Fra ...

, Noel Macainsh, and Alexander Craig, who came together in the 1960s and 1970s.Gorton (2007) p. 14 Gorton writes that this was "a combative time in Australian poetry" with different "cliques" operating, including the

Jindyworobaks The Jindyworobak Movement was an Australian literary movement of the 1930s and 1940s whose white members, mostly poets, sought to contribute to a uniquely Australian culture through the integration of Indigenous Australian subjects, language ...

, the New Poets and the Melbourne poets. The Melbourne poets were "deliberately prosaic ... finding their poetry in suburbs and ordinary days". Poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe reiterated this in his obituary of Simpson in ''

'' on 10 October 2002. He wrote that Simpson "was a poet who put the Australian suburbs on the map. Verse had long been under the thumb of the landed gentry and Sydney quasi-bohemians, but he stuck resolutely, quietly, diurnally to the way most of us live". Gorton qualifies this, though, by writing that Simpson's poetry's strength is that it is "at once so commonplace and odd", providing an artist's "skewed perspective on familiar happenings".Gorton (2007) p. 15 Gorton suggests too, that his poetry is extroverted rather than inward-looking, that it can be "comic and lugubrious, ponderous and terse", and that he can turn his analysis on himself.Gorton (2007) p. 16 His first book of poetry ''Walk along the beach'' was published in 1960, and was followed by another 10 volumes over the next four decades. His last work was published posthumously. He and Chris Wallace-Crabbe both used the pseudonym "Gillian Bianchini".AusLit (2007) Simpson was poetry editor of ''

The Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

'' (1963–65), following

, and of ''

'' (1969–97). He received the

Christopher Brennan Award The Christopher Brennan Award (formerly known as the Robert Frost Prize) is an Australian award given for lifetime achievement in poetry. The award, established in 1973, takes the form of a bronze plaque which is presented to a poet who produces w ...

from the

Fellowship of Australian Writers The Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) was established in Sydney in 1928, with the aim of bringing writers together and promoting their interests. The organisation played a key role in the establishment of the Australian Society of Authors in ...

in 1992.

Art career

Simpson was an artist as well as a poet, and often illustrated his poetry drafts. His published poetry collection, ''The Midday Clock'' (1999), includes his own pen and ink drawings, the role of which he told the publisher was to help illustrate the message of his poetry.

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * *''The Real Pompeii'' (1964, Jacaranda Press, reprinted by Picaro Press in 2010) *''After the Assassination'' (1968, Jacaranda press) *''Diver'' (1972, University of Queensland Press) *''Words for a Journey : Poems 1970-1985'' *''Dancing Table : Poems and Drawings 1986-1991'' *''The Midday Clock'' (1999) *''Sky's Beach'' (2003) ;List of poems

Notes

References

AusLit (2007)
Accessed on: 2007-08-14
AusLit News (2002) November–December 2002
Accessed on: 2007-08-14 *Gorton, Lisa (2007) "Awkwardness itself" in ''National Library of Australia News'', XVII/4, January 2007, pp. 14–17
Papers of R.A. Simpson, MS 5575 (National Library of Australia)
Accessed on: 2007-08-14 * Wilde, W., Hooton, J. & Andrews, B (1994) ''The Oxford Companion of Australian Literature'' 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, R. A. 1929 births 2002 deaths 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian poets Australian illustrators Australian male poets Meanjin people Writers from Victoria (Australia)