Peter Porter was an Australian poet popular in British circles. He wrote most of his poetry between the 1960s and the 1980s. Based upon his experience in Europe, Porter writes to a primarily European audience. His poetry demonstrates both a fascination with history and an embrace of the intellect. In certain audiences Porter's poetry may be called elitist. He belongs to the modernist era.
As if posturing himself as an insider, Porter writes a great deal about landmarks in various European cities. The statues of "Isaiah's Knee" and the peacocks of "Sun King Sulking" serve as indicators of Porter's nuanced knowledge of the European landscape. He writes about places which only a local could understand. With or without these references, however, Porter's poems are coherent and impactful. The value of his insider knowledge is only dictated by its relevance to the reader, thus allowing Porter's poems to appeal to a wider audience.
Preoccupied with the past, Porter falls into the modernist line of thought. He writes about the grandeur of the past and how the modern age has brought more knowledge but also more confusion for the individual seeking a place in the midst of urbanization, industrialization, and social reform. In "On the One Hand" Porter muses on the complicated relationship of the modern white man to his ancestry. The men who died in petty wars have earned the modern man nothing but guilt.
