“The Australian Voice”-on The Nationality Of Henry Lawson’s Poetry

Henry Lawson,known as “the people’s poet”,is the originator of Australian realistic literature and the founder of nationalist literature,which has had a profound impact on the development of Australian literature and even on social culture.In Lawson’s more than 30 years of writing career,the expression of nationality has always been the theme and soul of his poetry.This thesis discusses the national feelings,national images,and national spirits in Lawson’s poetry within the theoretical framework of nationalism,using cultural study,comparative study and close reading of texts.Inheriting the tradition of writing about the Australian bush,Lawson,under the call of the nationalist movement,focuses on the bush reality,depicting objectively and meticulously the suffering of the underclass people in Australia during the colonial period with a contradictory emotion of both love and hatred for the bush,creating the bushman as the national image and celebrating their fighting spirit and “mateship”.Lawson’s poetry is full of both compassion for working people and patriotic passion,portraying the social reality of Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,reflecting the national spirit of Australia and the general aspirations of the people at the time,and having a beneficial impact on the construction of Australian national literature.