Preview

In The Park Gwen Harwood Analysis

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1349 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
In The Park Gwen Harwood Analysis
"Ideas and the way those ideas are presented are what makes a poets' work distinctive. Choose 2 poems from 1 poet and describe how they show the distinctive characteristics of this poets' work.
Gwen Harwood skilfully employs language techniques to explore a variety of distinctive themes and ideas in her poems. This is seen in 'In The Park' where Harwood explores the human condition through the simplistic and dull life of her female protagonist, while in 'Prize Giving' she explores multiple universal themes through her male protagonist Professor Eisenbart.
Harwood effectively establishes a simplistic image through her title 'In the Park' to imply the mundane simplicity of the place, the people and the idea. This is enhanced through the simplistic first line as the woman "sits in the park". Here we are introduced to the protagonist with her depressingly dull and monotonous life, clearly portrayed through Hardwood's image in describing how …show more content…
Synecdoche is employed when Eisenbart is "summoned by arrogant hands" to show the girls power. She is symbolised by the power of her music, characterized as "titian-haired" to imply her passionate nature and her "eyes" that see through Eisenbarts' superficial superiority and arrogance. Her power is further conveyed as "Eisenbart teased his gown", showing his sexual unease and realisation that his self image is weakened. His perspective changes as the young and fiery girl defeats him by deflating his self- image and superiority. Eisenbart now sees himself differently as he "peered into a trophy which suspended his image upside down: a sage fool trapped". His composure has left him and his self-image is reflected in her trophy as he is mirrored upside down, symbolically reversed and up-ended. The oxymoron in "sage fool" demonstrates that he is controlled by her
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Angry Boys Gwen Harwood Summary
    • 1313 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Angry Boys Gwen Harwood Summary

    While I perceive the poem to be one that reflects on her youth and reminisces on the wonderful memories she shared with her family and the feeling of protection and safety gained from them, others may read it differently. For example a colleague of mine proposed the idea that Harwood was now an older women, depressed and trying to find or remember a time in her life when she was in fact happy, that she is trying to escape the inevitability of death by escaping to her youth. Either way her poems offer the responder a variety of readings, which, I think, offer her work an integrity that is not eroded by…

    • 1313 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Unit: The Changing Australian Voice ('The Man from Snowy River' and 'Municipal Gum')
    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Unit: The Changing Australian Voice ('The Man from Snowy River' and 'Municipal Gum')

    You are to create a representation of TWO of the poems studied in class and…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gwen Harwood With My Father's Gun Analysis
    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Gwen Harwood With My Father's Gun Analysis

    Harwood has fond memories of her childhood in Queensland which often appear in her poems. She was married in 1945 and moved to Tasmania. She began writing in her thirties to express the things that gave her life meaning.…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Father And Child By Gwen Harwood
    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Analysis Of Father And Child By Gwen Harwood

    Harwood has clearly articulated the concern for time passing by, and the loss of innocence that comes as a child gains experience, also reflecting the trademark interwoven Romantic style of her poetry. The structure of the poem further delves into this idea of the concern for time. The two symmetrical linked poems place emphasis on how time has moved on and separate childhood from adulthood. The constant use of enjambments reflect the passing of time and the ambiguity of where time disappears to in our vast existence. Harwood’s use of structure and language affirm her ability to transcend time throughout her work, further enhancing its capability to be accepted in different contexts and upholding its textual…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What Is The Theme Of Change In Gwen Harwood's Poetry
    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Is The Theme Of Change In Gwen Harwood's Poetry

    ‘The richness of Gwen Harwood’s poetry lies in their ability to lend themselves to particular interpretations, reflecting different concerns and values’. Discuss…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Comparing Atonement And Harwood's '
    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Comparing Atonement And Harwood's '

    The novel ‘Atonement’ and the Harwood poem ‘Prize Giving’ both examine the concept of breaking free, through the breaking of societal and gender conformities. Breaking free is seen in ‘Atonement’ through McEwan creating changing perspectives of his characters through a narrative and them breaking free from the conforms of traditional class and gender roles. This idea links to ‘Prize Giving’, as Professor Eisenbart also breaks free from the conforms of his society.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Themes and Ideas Gwen Harwood Explores in Her Poetry, and How She Communicates It to the Reader
    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Themes and Ideas Gwen Harwood Explores in Her Poetry, and How She Communicates It to the Reader

    Gwen Harwood’s poetry then is beguiling in its simplicity. Stories of Glass Jars and school awards nights are used as vehicles to explore profound human issues such as life and death, the continuing resonance of the biblical, Freudian concerns and gender masks and performances. Thus, although composed half a century ago Harwood’s poems, still speak to us today and through their discussions of themes fundamental and universal to all of human experience, will continue to speak to future generations.…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    In The Park Gwen Harwood Analysis
    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In The Park Gwen Harwood Analysis

    Throughout the poem it is evident that persona is discontent with her lifestyle. The paratactic form of the poem, consisting of enjambment, ‘a small balloon…but for the grace of God’, and hyphens ‘passes by-too late’ reflects her disjointedness with her current lifestyle. The masculine rhyme in the first two stanzas emphasise the repetitive cycle of her monotonous existence. This shows her sheer desperation to communicate her unhappiness. Her children are able to ‘whine and bicker’ however, she is forever silenced, and this constant frustration leads her to talk to the wind ‘ to the wind she says, they have eaten me alive’. When Harwood refers to the wind, she uses the particular image to allude to the human experience of loneliness and frustration, as the mother feels like she has nobody else to turn to. Harwood’s choice of words is monosyllabic ‘they have eaten me alive’ suggesting a sense of weariness and despair throughout the poem, in turn adding effect for the reader. The children ‘Draw(s) aimless patterns in the dirt’ metaphorically emphasizes her disorientation and lack of direction. When Harwood describes the persona as ‘sit(ing) in the park’ she is using the particular image to figuratively emphasise her lack of energy and enthusiasm even in the midst of the energy radiating from the children surrounding her. She is portrayed as lifeless, static and ignored. Her clothes ‘out of date’, creates a particular image, which suggests her loss of identity and self-indulgence. ‘Nursing the youngest child’ reflects her inclined responsibility, which further underscores her need to care for others and therefore forget about herself. ‘Someone she loved once’ symbolizes the love, romance, and the life she once lived. The irony that she is ‘rehearsing the children’s name and birthdays’ is effective, as birthdays should be a…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Analysis of the Poems of Gwen Harwood
    • 971 Words
    • 28 Pages

    An Analysis of the Poems of Gwen Harwood

    The poetry of the revered Gwen Harwood is demonstrative of time enduring ideas that thereby craft her work memorable and durable irrespective of time and place. This premise derives from the principle concern of Harwood’s writings; an examination of the nature of human existence and all of its many constituents. Harwood’s poetry thus pertains to the internally triggered or inherent component of the values and attitudes of the individual. Dictated by the fundamental conditions of the human psyche, the nature of such a component is invariable and thereby sturdy over time. It is therefore through an exploration of the establishment, development and maturation of the inherent that Harwood’s poetry may be deemed interminable. ‘Triste Triste’, ‘Mother Who Gave Me Life’ and ‘Father and Child’ pose three texts that demonstrate such theory through an investigation of such timeless concerns as the impermanence of human existence, the continuity of human experience and the evolution from innocence to experience.…

    • 971 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    St Patrick's College Poem Analysis
    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages

    St Patrick's College Poem Analysis

    Which 2 or 3 poems would you choose to write about? Write a summary of how each poem explores the rubric statement.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Feminine Voice: Gwen Harwood
    • 1083 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Feminine Voice: Gwen Harwood

    The identity and voice of the central figure within a poem influences the readers view of the world. The symbolic depiction of societal roles from the point of view of a central characters experience articulates social and cultural traditions, allowing the poet to endorse or critique the naturalized values of his or her culture. In her two sonnets, In the Park, and Suburban Sonnet: Boxing Day, the Australian poet Gwen Harwood uses the generic conventions of poetry to construct a central persona who, through their voice, conveys the social expectations of women in 1950s suburban Australia. Both sonnets centre on a mother dealing with the everyday challenges of motherhood and through the use of the poetic techniques of the sonnet form, imagery, irony, tone and symbolism, socially define the mother figure in Australian Culture. The development of the womans identity empowers the feminine voice of the poem to portray cultural values in a way that positions the reader to develop an understanding of the poets world and interrogate Australias patriarchal societys marginalization of motherhood.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Romanticism Resource Page
    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Romanticism Resource Page

    After reviewing the Romanticism resource page and the poem, identify two characteristics of Romanticism found in this poem. Identify specific examples (lines) in the poem that represent each of the characteristics you have chosen. After identifying the lines, explain (in your own words) how the lines represent the characteristics of Romanticism. For example: line 3 "my love was a love" is an example of idealism because...…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Life and Women Bearing Women
    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Life and Women Bearing Women

    Harwood’s poetry are valued texts because they explore challenging ideas of nostalgia and mortality. Discuss this statement in light of your understanding of the poetry of Gwen Harwood.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Memorable Idea in Kenneth Slessor's Poetry
    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Memorable Idea in Kenneth Slessor's Poetry

    Essay Question: In your view, how does Kenneth Slessor’s poetry create the concept of memorable ideas through poetic techniques?…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Gwen Harwood - Expresion of Complex Ideas Through Imagery
    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Gwen Harwood - Expresion of Complex Ideas Through Imagery

    Often in poetry the technique of imagery is relied on heavily to present the reader with a visual stimulus that allows the poet to express a set of complex ideas. Poet Gwen Harwood utilises certain everyday images to illustrate the tendency of society to categorize the roles and expectations of females in the 1950’s. Some of her works such as ‘In the Park’, ‘Suburban Sonnet’ and ‘Dichterlibre’ draw on images of bickering children, household chores and tiresome motherly figures in order for the reader grasp some of the intangible concepts presented in the poems, such as the struggle for female independence in a patriarchal society and the social inequity experienced by the housewives and mothers of the 50’s. Harwood’s poetry gives voice to these drained women and entices the reader to take notice of the restrictions placed on a young mother by society’s expectations.…

    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More