James K Baxter

James K Baxter was one of New Zealand most accomplished poetry writers. Baxter has tended to show his life emotions through his writing. Baxter’s life has changed dramatically. And with this his poetry content has changed dramatically. Many things have helped to change his life including, His parents, Pacifism, Schooling, University, Alcohol, Religion, Work environments, Marriage, United Nations Commitments, Operating a Auckland Safe House and Having a number of occupations. James K Baxter describes his poems as ‘part of a large subconscious corpus of personal myth, like an island above the sea, but joined underwater to other islands’

James K Baxter was born in Otago to a farming family. His parent’s labour voting influenced Baxter a lot as well as his parents contrasting backgrounds. Also his father being a pacifist made Baxter teenage years solitary. During 1942 and 1946 he drafted up to 600 poems. This helped his poetry mind to develop and grow and helped him to release f...