Here I am, reading "Ecstasy" by Walter James Turner. It is in an old NSW Department of Education endorsed poetry textbook called "Discovering Poetry: Four--Fresh Fields" (1956 Longmans). My teacher read this man-boy love poem to the class when I was 12-years-old. This book sat in Australian and British primary and secondary school libraries for decades, and was used as a poetry text book. It is probably still gathering dust on school shelves. I argue that this poem is homoerotic, paederastic, and possibly paedophilic. It is most certainly about homoerotic feelings for boys. Simply read the poem, aloud, a few times, and it drips with homoerotic import. No! Nothing is said overtly, about man-boy love; but it's all said implicitly--and indirectly. Even so, it's amazing that, given that the 1950s and 1960s were such very homophobic times, with even adult gay men being prosecuted and imprisoned for consenting homosexual acts, the book was never banned. Was this all due to "repression", as the psychology books are wont to call it? I believe this poem to now be out of copyright, but if you know otherwise, please let me know. BTW: My "boy"friend is nearly 70-years-old, so please don't start name-calling! .....
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