Slessor, Kenneth Adolf (1901–1971)

Australian poet. A journalist and war correspondent, he is remembered for his superbly pictorial verse, particularly ‘Five Visions of Captain Cook’ 1931 and his best-known work, the title poem of his collection Five Bells 1939, an elegy for his friend Joe Lynch. ‘Beach Burial’ 1944 illustrates the futility of war in the bewildered pity of battle-hardened soldiers in the presence of casualties.