Francis Webb Centenary ed Rochford Street Review

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FRANCIS WEBB CENTENARY – 8 FEBRUARY 2025

by

8 February 2025 marks the centenary of the birth of Australian poet Francis Webb. Born at Rose Park, Adelaide, Francis went to live with his paternal parents in Sydney in 1931 after the death of mother and the institutionalisation of his father for depression. The young Webb was writing poetry at 7 years old and by 1942 his work was appearing in The Bulletin. His first collection, A Drum for Ben Boyd (1948), was described by Douglas Stewart as major poetry’ and ‘without parallel’ for a debut poet.

Writing about the Webb Centenary Dr Toby Davidson, a poet himself and a  Webb scholar based at Macquarie University, and editor of the UWAP updated edition of Francis Webb’s Collected Poems, writes:

By 1969, when Webb’s career effectively ended with his Collected Poems, he had profoundly influenced both the postwar and late 60s generations. Les Murray called him ‘the gold standard by which complex poetic language has been judged’, while Gwen Harwood wrote that Webb was ‘unmatched’ and Judith Wright declared ‘He’s done so much suffering for me and I’ve read him so much and I think that’s what poetry is for’. 

Today, Webb is recognised by a new generation as the first Australian poet to write about mental health and the lives of mental patients when it was utterly taboo, informed by his redemptive, transcendent Catholicism. 

Francis Webb will forever be the ultimate ‘poet’s poet’, but he belongs to all Australians and this milestone is a chance to reflect on his legacy which elevates us all. 

To celebrate the centenary year of Webb’s birth Dr Davidson will be convening a series of publications, podcasts and readings in his honour throughout 2025. Details of these events can be found at https:// uwap.uwa.edu.au/ blogs/marginalia/ centenary-of-major-australian-poet-francis-webb

To mark the actual centenary Rochford Street Review is republishing Robert Adamson’s important essay Something Absolutely Splendid as well as the poem ‘Two Canticles’, a poem about Webb by Colleen Keating:

– Mark Roberts