Public lecture looks at poetry education

A University of Queensland academic will examine changes causing problems for poetry education in Australia in a free public lecture on August 24.

Senior lecturer in English at UQ St Lucia Dr Martin Duwell will discuss Poetry and the Universities in a Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies lecture at Mayne Hall foyer St Lucia at 5.30pm.

Dr Duwell will look at the inter-relationship between poetry in Australia and the institution of the university, an institution which has grown in influence in the study of literature in a culture lacking the counter-institution that a strong tradition of literary journalism might provide.

He considers the changes that have occurred in the past 35 years.

"They have produced a picture which at the turn of the millennium, is not a comforting one in Australia and is particularly bleak in Queensland where a decreasing number of matriculating students have any serious, pre-academic exposure to poetry," he said.

The lecture considers a number of questions, principally with reference to contemporary poetry. Are poetries and universities essentially antagonistic? What are the things a university does to poetry? Is there an essential response to poetry that academic study shies away from? Since contemporary poets more and more find at least temporary homes in universities, does this affect what they write? What contributions can a university make to contemporary poetry that are undeniably valuable?

Dr Duwell has been involved with contemporary Australian poetry for over 30 years as a journal editor, small press owner, and poetry editor for The University of Queensland Press and, until recently, poetry reviewer for The Australian. He was one of the editors of the New Literary History of Australia (Penguin 1988) and has written widely on the work of individual contemporary Australian poets. He is the author of A Possible Contemporary Poetry (Makar 1982) and editor, with R.M.W Dixon, of two anthologies of traditional Aboriginal poetry : The Honey Ant Men's Love Song (UQP 1990) and Little Eva at Moonlight Creek (UQP, 1994)

The lecture will be chaired by Centre director Professor Graeme Turner. This lecture series is supported by the UQ Alumni Association.

Members of the public are invited to attend this free lecture, after which light refreshments will be served.

Enquiries to Ms. Andrea Mitchell, Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, Ph. (07) 3365 7182, Fax. (07) 3365 7184 or email a.mitchell@mailbox.uq.edu.au