Douglas Stewart AO OBE (6 May 1913 – 14 February 1985) was a major twentieth century Australian poet, as well as short story writer, essayist and literary editor.
He published 13 collections of poetry, 5 verse plays, including the well-known Fire on the Snow, many short stories and critical essays, and biographies of Norman Lindsay and Kenneth Slessor.
[citation needed] Douglas Stewart was born in Eltham, Taranaki Province, New Zealand, to an Australian-born lawyer father.
In addition to his literary pursuits, Stewart was a keen fisherman and often went trout fishing with his friend, the poet David Campbell.
He began initially because of the need to produce a poem for his school magazine, but his love for reading and writing poetry developed rapidly.
He read widely, including Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Milton and Coleridge, enjoying their ability to compact powerful description into language, and to convey emotion through sound, rhythm and word selection.
His father was a subscriber to The Bulletin from Australia and the young Stewart regularly sent poems to that magazine, the vast majority of which were rejected.
[1] The years working for The Bulletin were highly productive, both in terms of personal output and for his contribution to Australia's literary life.
[7] Goodwin goes on to write that "More eclectic than he is often given credit for, he did have a distaste for rhetoric and declamation and a preference for the Audenesque air of jaunty reasonableness" and that "he was sceptical about large religious affirmation".
[8] The Bulletin, along with Meanjin and Southerly were significant magazines for promoting the poetic achievement of writers and for establishing a cultural milieu in which younger poets could refine their skills.
During his editorship The Bulletin published such poets as Judith Wright, Francis Webb, David Campbell, Rosemary Dobson, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Randolph Stow and Vivian Smith.
Sometimes, such as in his work of the 1950s, he focused "intensely on the natural world, choosing small creatures and details close to the earth to exemplify larger themes.
(2006) Letters Lifted into Poetry: Selected Correspondence between David Campbell and Douglas Stewart, Canberra, National Library of Australia, 268pp, ISBN 978-0-642-27638-4.