Verses

Verses is a book-length collection of poems that Ridge wrote when she lived in New Zealand and Australia, before she came to the United States in 1907. Completed by 1905, Verses was submitted to the Sydney Bulletin’s literary editor for possible book publication. It remained in the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales in Australia unpublished until now. These forty-six poems represent Ridge’s earliest poetic output. Their spirit evokes, and is based in, the life of pioneer miners in New Zealand and Australia. Written in formal rhyming verse (except for one blank verse poem), these poems presage Ridge’s grounding in the mystical forces of nature. They also reveal her nascent interest in social justice. And they portray, towards the end of the collection a humorous side to her work. Verses attends to Ridge’s attention to person and place. Australasia in the late nineteenth century comes alive in these poems. This book features an introduction by Michele Leggott, who situates Ridge’s work in fin de siecle New Zealand and Australia. Leggott also surveys Ridge’s peripatetic existance during the early part of her life and Ridge’s development as a poet.