"The Man From Ironbark" is a

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

by Australian

bush poet The bush ballad, bush song, or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of ...

Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson). It is written in the iambic heptameter. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' on 17 December 1892.

Analysis

The poem relates the experiences of a man from

the Bush "The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where it is largely synonymous with hinterlands or backwoods. The fauna and flora contained within the bush is typically native to the regi ...

who visits

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and becomes the subject of a

practical joke A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. The perpetrat ...

by a mischievous

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

. The barber pretends to cut the bushman's throat by slashing his newly-shaven neck using the back of his

cut-throat razor A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors. The predecessors of the modern straight razors include bronze razors, with cutting edges and fixed handles, produced ...

that had been heated in boiling water. While making his displeasure known,

A peeler man .e. policemanwho heard the din came in to see the show;
He tried to run the bushman in, but he refused to go.

The barber confesses that he was playing a joke, and the bushman, unconvinced, returns to Ironbark, where, due to his accounts of his Sydney experiences, "flowing beards are all the go". There are obvious echoes in the poem of the

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

of the murdering barber - fictionalised in the

penny dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular Serial (literature), serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typical ...

The String of Pearls ''The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance'' (alternatively titled ''The Sailor's Gift'') is a story first published as a penny dreadful serial from 1846 to 47. The main character of the story is Sweeney Todd, "the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" ...

'' which featured the notorious

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

. Ironbark was the earlier name for Stuart Town, a town in the Central West region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In 2004, a representative of The Wilderness Society posed as "The Ghost of the Man from Ironbark", a reference to the poem, to campaign for the protection of the remaining

Ironbark Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus ''Eucalyptus'' that have dark, deeply furrowed bark. Instead of being shed annually as in many of the other species of ''Eucalyptus'', the dead bark accum ...

woodlands in

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

.Ghost of 'Man from Ironbark' returns to haunt NSW Parliament House
The Wilderness Society Australia Incorporated, 1 March 2004

Critical reception

A writer in ''The Herald'' from Melbourne noted, after Paterson's death, that the poem "will remain a gem to the

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

as long as the Outback exists." ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' states: "In ironbark the oft-told story reinforces traditional bush suspicion of the city and leads to a pronounced fashion in beards."

Publication history

After its original publication in ''The Bulletin'' the poem was also included in the following anthologies, among others: * ''

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses ''The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses'' (1895) is the first collection of poems by Australian poet Banjo Paterson. It was released in hardback by Angus and Robertson in 1895, and features the poet's widely anthologised poems " The Man from ...

'', 1895 * ''Favourite Australian Poems'' edited by Ian Mudie, Rigby, 1963 * ''From the Ballads to Brennan'' edited by T. Inglis Moore, Angus & Robertson, 1964 * ''Silence into Song : An Anthology of Australian Verse'' edited by Clifford O'Brien, Rigby, 1968 * ''A Treasury of Colonial Poetry'', Currawong, 1982 * ''Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900'' edited by Rosamund Campbell and Philippa Harvie, 1983 * ''The Penguin Book of Humorous Verse'' edited by Bill Scott, Penguin, 1984 * ''The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse'' edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984 * ''My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years'' edited by Leonie Kramer, Lansdowne, 1985 * ''The Bushwackers Australian Song Book'' edited by Jan Wositzky and Dobe Newton, Sphere, 1988 * ''A Vision Splendid: The Complete Poetry of A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson'', Angus and Robertson, 1990 * ''A Treasury of Bush Verse'' edited by G. A. Wilkes, 1991 * ''The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads'' edited by Elizabeth Webby and Philip Butterss, Penguin, 1993 * ''Classic Australian Verse'' edited by Maggie Pinkney, Five Mile Press, 2001 * ''Our Country : Classic Australian Poetry : From Colonial Ballads to Paterson & Lawson'' edited by Michael Cook, Little Hills Press, 2002 * ''100 Australian Poems You Need to Know'' edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant, 2008 * ''The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry'' edited by John Kinsella, Penguin, 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man From Ironbark, The 1892 poems Poetry by Banjo Paterson Works originally published in The Bulletin (Australian periodical)

Analysis

Critical reception

Publication history

See also

References