Why Les Murray's Broad Bean Sermon remains essential reading
Les Murray's 1974 poem The Broad Bean Sermon showcases the Australian poet's gift for blending high culture with everyday life.
Les Murray (1938, 2019) was Australia's national poet, yet seen as old-fashioned and out of step with modern life. Although often seen as a potential Nobel laureate, he had a complicated reputation at home.
The Broad Bean Sermon, published in 1974, shows why he still matters. The poem has nine tercets (three-line stanzas).
These form a trinity of trinities, echoing Christian symbols. Murray converted to Catholicism in 1962.
The title is playful. Is it a sermon about broad beans, or one given by them?
Murray mixed opposites: high and low culture, rural and city wisdom, formal learning and everyday speech. This poem shows that gift.
Whatever arguments his work stirred in life, his poems calm those tensions. They leave readers moved.
- 1938-2019
- Murray life span
- 1974
- Poem published
- Lunch and Counter Lunch
- Collection title
- Catholic, 1962
- Religious conversion
Why it mattersMurray's work shows how great poetry can transform the ordinary into something profound without losing its grounding in real life.
AustraliaUnderstanding Murray's influence helps explain modern Australian literature and why he remains a touchstone for readers and writers across the country.
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