Starting from Melbourne: The Coherence of Chris Wallace-Crabbe

Abstract

The article traces the trajectory I observe in Wallace-Crabbe’s writing since his first poetry publication. The focus is on his consciousness of the paradox of language’s ability to express what Auden called “unmentionable private concerns”—and, I would add, “unmentionable” aspects of public life. The essay necessarily dwells only fleetingly on several divagations from the coherence I observe in his critical writing and his poetry