Abstract
David McKee Wright is one of New Zealand’s most popular balladists. From an unsettled childhood in Ireland and England, and early life as a farmhand in New Zealand, Wright forged a career in the Congregational Church, and wrote verse and short stories on rural, political, and moral themes. Upon emigrating to Australia, he became a successful journalist and literary critic. In Australia he is considered to be part of an important literary culture surrounding the Sydney Bulletin. While not particularly popular with critics, Wright was a very popular with the public, and by all accounts a successful writer. Perhaps best remembered in Australia for his Irish verse, Wright wrote in many forms and genres. Wright is one of the few turn-of-thecentury poets whose work still appears in New Zealand poetry anthologies.
Highlights
David McKee Wright is one of New Zealand’s most popular balladists
In 1887, Wright’s parents sent him to live in New Zealand because he was diagnosed as having a lung disorder
When he immigrated to New Zealand, Wright lived with again with his uncle, David McKee, and his grandmother
Summary
David McKee Wright is one of New Zealand’s most popular balladists. From an unsettled childhood in Ireland and England, and early life as a farmhand in New Zealand, Wright forged a career in the Congregational Church, and wrote verse and short stories on rural, political, and moral themes. On 8 May 1890, while Wright was living in Otautau, the Otago Witness published his poem ‘Manapouri’. Wright was employed as a shepherd in Puketoi and during his time there contributed more than fifty poems to the Otago Witness, and was published in the Christchurch Press under the pseudonym ‘Cleggs’ before moving to Tabletops in the Hakataramea valley and working on Scobie Mackenzie’s station in early 1894.
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