Story: Poetry

Ian Wedde, 1990

Ian Wedde, shown here in 1990, was the most original of the young post-war 'baby boomers' who emerged onto the New Zealand poetry scene in the early 1970s. His poetry was influenced by experimental American work, and his poems tended to emerge out of highly personal situations – for example an early set of sonnets were reflections on the first year of his first son's life. Wedde has also been a successful novelist, and has written about and curated New Zealand art. Listen to him reading 'To death', a poem from his 2001 collection, The commonplace odes.

Using this item

Robert Cross Photography
Photograph by Robert Cross

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Sound file from Best New Zealand Poems (International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington); courtesy of Auckland University Press (Ian Wedde, The commonplace odes. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2001)

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

John Newton, 'Poetry - The 1970s and the ‘Freed’ generation', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/speech/43084/ian-wedde-1990 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by John Newton, published 22 Oct 2014