AustLit

'A respected scholar, editor, and poet, Toby Davidson is the author of Christian Mysticism and Australian Poetry (Cambria Press, 2013), editor of Collected Poems: Francis Webb (UWAP, 2011), and author of two collections of poetry, Beast Language (Five Islands Press, 2012) and Four Oceans (Puncher and Wattmann, 2020). Although other poets have higher public profiles, often thanks to their social media presence and writers' festival appearances, Davidson is highly regarded within the Australian poetry community by fellow poets. Davidson is also an outstanding scholar, as his monograph, academic articles, and work as Francis Webb's posthumous editor proves, and thus he is well qualified to conduct the research project that culminated in the publication of Good for the Soul: John Curtin's Life with Poetry, a hybrid text combining biography, history, and literary criticism. In addition to Davidson's experience and skill as a scholar, editor, and poet, he is also the great-grandson of Australia's third wartime prime minister, which gives him unique access and insight into John Curtin's life and archives.' (Introduction)

'In the introduction to this excellent study, Toby Davidson defines his subject as ‘the curious nexus between the servants of the Muse and those of Australian democracy’, a nexus exemplified in the life and career of John Curtin (xiii). Davidson is a great-grandson of Curtin. As the author of two volumes of poetry, Beast Language (2012) and Four Oceans (2020), and a critical monograph, Christian Mysticism and Australian Poetry (2013), he is perhaps uniquely qualified to explore this topic. With this book he has produced a notable contribution to the study of Australian political rhetoric and to the history of poetry in Australia, amply and rewardingly exploring connections between them.'  (Introduction)