Word: murray
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After three weeks in a coma following a prolonged illness in 1996, a press release from the John Hunter Hospital announced that premiere Australian poet Les Murray was once again “conscious and verbal...
Since his reawakening Murray has been both conscious and quite verbal, compiling 64 of the poems he has written in the past four years into a collection he named after the proclamation on that day, Conscious and Verbal, an arrangement he dubs posthumous. Although Murray is well known in Australia, his fame extends far beyond the borders of his beloved nation. His collection Subhuman Redneck Poems received the T.S. Eliot Prize and he has been awarded the Gold Medal for Poetry, presented by Queen Elizabeth. His newest collection shows his scope, depth and maturity as a world-class poet...
...variety of subject matter Murray peruses is incredible, but despite the number of topics the collection fits perfectly as a medley of puzzle pieces. Although it is his first published work after his illness, Murray reflects only briefly, but thoughtfully, on his own experience of unconsciousness and reawakening. One such poem, “A Reticence,” combines the description of an autumn landscape with the regret of missing a day of such beautiful existence, “and I sobbed because I’d missed that day / my entire lovely...
...Murray logically intersperses longer poems with shorter ones throughout the collection. The longer pieces occasionally verge on the scope of epic poetry with their descriptions of sweeping narratives, and the shorter pieces, some consisting of only four or five lines, are usually terse, biting commentary. Common sentiment is promptly rejected in “Drought Dust on the Crockery,” in a mere five lines of verse, “Things were not better / when I was young: / things were poorer and harsher, / drought dust on the crockery,/ and I was young...
Recruiting Director Judy Murray warned the audience that job offers might be sparse this year. She predicted that fewer companies will visit campus than in past years, and that those who do come to recruit will reduce their interview schedules. Murray explained, “In order to motivate students, we usually tell them to pretend that this job market is the worst in years. Well, this year, you won’t have to pretend.” Murray then let out a light chuckle, as if to intimate that she was half-joking. Her laughter was not contagious...