tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post7882276424497544314..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: The Poetry of Mary Gilmore - The Saturday TubJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-76379276608098845812012-02-09T07:03:47.571+11:002012-02-09T07:03:47.571+11:00What a nice comment, anon. I like the analogy.What a nice comment, anon. I like the analogy.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-58924793566707218602012-02-09T06:39:37.483+11:002012-02-09T06:39:37.483+11:00I liked the reflective tone in your post. Your obs...I liked the reflective tone in your post. Your observations about an small Australia were tinged with a writer's melancholy. May I say - conjures up images of people being swept along by a river and only one observer on the banks to see what is happening.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-22828824965055879392007-09-15T16:53:00.000+10:002007-09-15T16:53:00.000+10:00Perhaps not so surprising, Neil. The Australia of ...Perhaps not so surprising, Neil. The Australia of Mary Gilmore's time was a much smaller Australia in population terms, making cross-links easier.<BR/><BR/>A political-academic family like mine was likely to know, know of, a much wider range of people at a personal rather than media level than would be the case today.<BR/><BR/>The Australian world has got bigger, but also shrunk in some ways, simply because it is more fragmented and complex. <BR/><BR/>As one measure, my own daughters know a far smaller cross-section of people than I did at the same age.<BR/><BR/>Helen goes to a university of what, 18,000?, internal students. She might know, I am only guessing, 40-50 students.<BR/><BR/>There were 1,200 at UNE when I was there, nearly all residential. So some one who was active in student life as I was knew pretty much the entire student body. Sydney was bigger, but the overall pattern was the same.<BR/><BR/>I can't write more now, it is Clare's 18th tonight (another change, the importance of 18th birthdays), but it is probably worth writing something on this at some point.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-74173631714653504612007-09-15T15:18:00.000+10:002007-09-15T15:18:00.000+10:00Well, that is an amazing connection, Jim. I think ...Well, that is an amazing connection, Jim. I think Mary Gilmore's poetry deserves to get revived interest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com