Douglas Stewart
Douglas Stewart was a significant figure in Australian literature, known for both his original works and his role in promoting the writing of others. Born on May 6, 1913, in Eltham, New Zealand, he grew up in a family that encouraged his literary interests. After moving to Australia in 1938, he became a literary editor for The Bulletin and worked with Angus and Robertson, where he helped elevate the voices of many emerging writers. Stewart's literary output included poetry, plays, memoirs, and anthologies, often exploring themes of human experience, alienation, and the relationship between individuals and nature.
His writing was characterized by a mastery of technique and a fascination with contradictions, allowing him to delve into both the savage and civilized aspects of existence. Stewart believed that poetry should entertain rather than provoke, yet his works frequently tackled darker historical themes. Throughout his career, he received several accolades for his contributions to literature, including an Order of the British Empire and the Order of Australia. He passed away on February 14, 1985, leaving behind a legacy that continues to influence Australian literature today.
Douglas Stewart
Poet
- Born: May 6, 1913
- Birthplace: Eltham, New Zealand
- Died: February 14, 1985
- Place of death: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
Douglas Alexander Stewart is not widely anthologized, but he had an impact on Australian literature through both his works and his promotion of other writers. Born on May 6, 1913, in Eltham, New Zealand, he was the second of five children of a millwright, Alexander Armstrong Stewart, and Mary FitzGerald Stewart. He was enrolled in a private school at age four, going on to public schools and finally a boarding school. His hatred of the latter was eased by a headmaster who shared his love of fly fishing and who often took him out during school hours. Stewart’s passion for the sport led him to write a poem about a trout. The response was so positive that he began submitting works to area publications.
To his chagrin, his first poem was published on the children’s page of the Daily News, his next in a sister publication, the Australia Women’s Mirror in Sydney. His love of literature, and the poetic form in particular, was thus set. Although he made a stab at a potentially more traditional and lucrative career in law, he left college, relocating to Australia in 1938 to begin work with two literary institutions: the conservative publication The Bulletin, as a literary editor, from 1940 to 1961, and publishers Angus and Robertson, as an editor. In this capacity, he was instrumental in bringing to light the poetry and fiction of many unknown writers. In 1946, he married artist Margaret Coen, who later illustrated one of his diaries, posthumously published in1987.
As a poet, playwright, memoirist, anthologist, editor, critic, and literary advisor, Stewart sought to apply high standards of literary excellence, but he also wanted to appeal to the common reader. He was a populist who appreciated high art, hoping to reach both popular and literary audiences. He thought that poetry should entertain, not provoke argument, yet his own works often explored the grim side of life. He loved to write of bloody events in history, shipwrecks, men adrift, in one case, on ice floes for six months. He conveyed the physical and psychological effects of such deprivation on the survivors.
He was most interested in the strangeness of all human experience, the mystery of our existence. He was an excellent technician and enjoyed contradictions and opposites. He dealt with the savage and the civilized, with movement and stasis, with the miniature and the epic. He wrote a novel in verse form and a drama that combined prose and poetry. Much of his writing dealt with alienation, with the beautiful, yet indifferent, natural world. He brought to light the legends of the Maori and the myths of the Australians.
In 1960, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to Australian literature. In 1968, he was given ten thousand dollars for the Britannica Australia Award in the Humanities and in 1970, he won the Order of Australia. In 1971, he retired from Angus and Robertson. He died fourteen years later, on February 14, 1985.