Teams, The, is a poem by the Australian short-story writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in 1899 and has since become a favorite for anthologies and poetry recitals. Like most of Lawson’s other verse, it is written in the ballad form. A ballad is a narrative poem or song, usually about a single person or a group of people. The Australian bush ballad developed in the second half of the 1800’s. It told of life in the Australian bush (remote countryside) during the early days of settlement. Lawson and another famous Australian balladeer, Banjo Paterson, made the bush ballad famous through such poems as “The Teams” and Paterson’s “The Man from Snowy River”.
Lawson’s own form of ballad differs slightly from the traditional form in his descriptions of people and situations rather than action. Unlike Banjo Paterson, who told optimistic tales of daring and adventure, Lawson saw the darker side of life in Australia. Lawson experienced much hardship himself while he was a young worker and swagman (tramp), and he chose to write of people’s struggles in his poetry. In “The Teams,” Lawson describes the hard, dusty, exhausting work of driving teams of bullocks (oxen). The poem is not as much a story as an image of grim toil:
A cloud of dust on the long, white road, And the teams go creeping on Inch by inch with the weary load; And by the power of the green-hide goad The distant goal is won. With eyes half-shut to the blinding dust, And necks to the yokes bent low, The beasts are pulling as bullocks must; And the shining tires might almost rust While the spokes are turning slow. With face half-hid by a broad-rimmed hat, That shades from the heat’s white waves, And shouldered whip, with its green-hide plait, The driver plods with a gait like that Of his weary, patient slaves. He wipes his brow, for the day is hot, And spits to the left with spite; He shouts at Bally, and flicks at Scot, And raises dust from the back of Spot, And spits to the dusty right. He’ll sometimes pause as a thing of form In front of a settler’s door, And ask for a drink, and remark “It’s warm,” Or say “There’s signs of a thunderstorm;” But he seldom utters more. The rains are heavy on roads like these And, fronting his lonely home, For days together the settler sees The waggons bogged to the axletrees, Or ploughing the sodden loam. And then, when the roads are at their worst, The bushman’s children hear The cruel blows of the whips reversed While bullocks pull as their hearts would burst, And bellow with pain and fear. And thus— with glimpses of home and rest— Are the long, long journeys done; And thus— ’tis a thankless life at the best!— Is Distance fought in the mighty West, And the lonely battle won.
Lawson completes his picture with an ironic reflection on the overall effort involved in the expansion of settlement in Australia. The unglamorous job of driving bullock teams laden with supplies for the settlers comes to symbolize the “battle” to conquer the vast distances of the Australian countryside, particularly in the west, or outback. It is not a glorified struggle of people against the wilderness, but “A thankless life at the best!” And, perhaps more pointedly, it is one of loneliness.
Although Lawson first gained fame as a poet, he is now recognized mainly as an outstanding short-story writer. Critics admire his genius in re-creating, through his stories, the realities of life among the ordinary people of Australia. However, many critics find fault with Lawson’s ballads for their sentimental themes and uneven composition. Nevertheless, his poetry and prose had a profound influence on subsequent generations of Australian writers. Lawson’s writings were published in In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses (1896), While the Billy Boils (1896), Joe Wilson and His Mates (1901), Children of the Bush (1902), and Triangles of Life and Other Stories (1913).
