Who is Leon Gellert

Leon Maxwell Gellert (17 May 1892 – 22 August 1977) was an Australian poet.

Early life and education

He was born in Walkerville, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. He was the grandchild of Hungarian immigrants. He was subjected to bullying by his father to which he reacted by learning self-defence at the YMCA.

After an education at Adelaide High School, he embarked on a teaching career; first as a student-teacher at Unley High School then at the University of Adelaide's Teacher Training College.

He enlisted with the Australian Imperial Forces 10th Battalion within weeks of the outbreak of the Great War and sailed for Cairo on 22 October 1914. He landed at Ari Burnu Beach, Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, was wounded and repatriated as medically u...
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Leon Gellert Poems

  • The True Dawn
    Go, false dawn, that cometh as a child
    With yellow curls!
    Hast never known the wild
    Unhallowed cry of night! ...
  • The Cripple
    He totters round and dangles those odd shapes
    That were his legs. His eyes are never dim.
    He brags about his fame between the tapes,
    And laughs the loudest when they laugh at him. ...
  • To A Man Who Wished To Die
    And now that you are dead, - If I should die
    Upon this ground,
    And open my new eye,
    Iâ??d leave my body dead, ...
  • Rapine
    She came from some still mossiness
    Of quiet ways; and stood with modest hands;
    A warmth of body in a shy distress;
    A white shell on the sands. ...
  • Acceptance
    Beside the doors of a keen-lighted hall
    I paused, and quite by chance
    I noticed Love
    Smiling and tall; ...
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Top 10 most used topics by Leon Gellert

Night 25 Face 18 Long 18 Head 18 Sleep 17 Red 17 Death 16 Sea 16 Sky 15 Earth 15


Leon Gellert Quotes

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Comments about Leon Gellert

Kill81601: i see old shadows creep along the sleep stream -leon gellert
Thecardigankid: "the brolga or australian crane holds dancing orgies on the plain: and students of the russian ballet have crept in crowds across the mallee far beyond the desert grasses to where the brolga holds its classes." -leon gellert, 'the brolga'
War_poets: 22 october 1914 leon gellert as part of the australian imperial force's 10th battalion embarks on the troopship ascanius for egypt.
War_poets: 22 august 1914 leon gellert enlists in the australian imperial force and is posted as a corporal to south australia's 10th battalion.
Ozannemichael: leon gellert.. anzac cove.
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