In “To Paint a Water Lily,” by Ted Hughes, the speaker examines the complex aspects of nature by revealing the challenges he faces as an artist in capturing its real meaning. When he looks at the scene, he sees an exciting little world of constant movement and activity, hidden by the peaceful stillness of the water lilies that float at the surface of the pond. Ted knows that to paint the water lily and do it righteousness requires more than a simple description of the plant itself—he must also somehow capture its environment; the busy life that surrounds it. The power with which the speaker describes this incredible task and the appreciation he feels for the outstanding convolution of nature is expressed through the use of tone, language, imagery, diction and figurative language.…
Ridge and gully in afternoon light is a distorted and strangely set out view of the traditions of a ‘regular’ landscape. The viewing area we are given is dominated by blended sections of different viewing perspectives filled with strangely shaped trees of varying different shapes, colour’s and sizes. All objects in the painting,…
Having said that, Streeton’s body of work was both celebrated and scrutinized, as within every audience there will be some who are for the status quo and some against it. On the contrary, contemporary viewers of Streeton’s Fire’s On, would presumably understand the painting to be a traditional landscape, due to the multitude of contemporary landscape paintings that we see today, which embody non-naturalistic colour and composition and steer clear of illusory depth of field and realistic representation of subject matter. Streeton’s objective of communicating, in its fullest, the ruggedness and the heroism of the Australian landscape, although potentially seen as irrelevant to contemporary viewers, reminds them of the nature of the terrain on which they currently stand, before it was domesticated in accordance with the rise of civilization. So, despite that much of the Australian terrain is now cultivated, Streeton’s Fire’s On is one of many works that immortalises the “great, gold plains” and “hot, trying winds” that are characteristic of Australian…
The poem is effective in its use of vivid imagery, both visual and auditory, and offers the reader a unique perspective of the neighbourhood, consistent with many other poems included in the anthology. The imagery is used to demonstrate to the reader how to construct an opinion of the white neighbourhood, using negative phrases in conjunction with the city such as the “menacing glow” or haunted by… urban myth”. This in turn acts to justify the invasion of the white suburbs, so that, rather than criminalising…
In the ‘Yellow Wallpaper’ the reader sees a parallel between the yellow wallpaper, and a female entrapped within the domestic sphere. When thinking about how the private sphere and public realm may apply to this metaphorical figure, it may be suggested that daytime represents the ‘public realm’ as this is when the wallpaper, alongside the metaphorical figure behind it, is most shown and observed. Contrastingly, nighttime is the equivalent to the ‘private sphere’, as this is when the wallpaper and metaphorical figure is most alone and least observed. By progressing with this ideology, during the daytime, and in the ‘public realm’ the wallpaper is described to have a “silly and conspicuous front design” suggesting that the female behind the wallpaper is portraying a somewhat fake and “silly” persona. This links with the traditional stereotype of a female within the patriarchal society of the novella. The choice to describe this as “conspicuous” suggests that this persona is obviously false. Perhaps Gilman is implying that the way women were compelled to conform to this persona should be addressed. However, in nighttime, and in the ‘private realm’, the wallpaper changes and is as “plain as can be” suggesting that the “silly” persona that this female gives off within the public realm has perhaps sucked the life and soul out of the female. It may also be argued that the term “plain” is Gilman suggesting that females within the 20th century were purely blank canvases, restricted from embracing their own true and colourful persona; and instead were metaphorically ‘painted’ to fit the stereotype in which they were limited to. It may be suggested that the fabricated persona of women within the 20th century was disregarded at night, giving such a persona little significance. More importantly, it could be argued that the focus…
Stanza two develops the poet's ability to shelter her pain. "I am industrious and clever" Here she states plainly that she is gifted at hiding her true feelings. She paints "Landscapes on door panels and screens." Here symbolism is developed further as door panels may represent doors to her heart or other aspects of her being. In parallel, the screens she paints provide illusion to the way she feels. By painting the "the doors and screens" she hopes others will follow the illusion instead of looking at what she really experiences.…
Unlike novels, poetry or songs, images cannot be expressed using a considerable amount of words. Instead images must display visual techniques to convey ideas. Heine has incorporated numerous visual techniques into his photograph to achieve such complexity in depth and meaning. As the title of the photograph suggests, this image displays images of home, which provokes emotive thoughts towards the people depicted in the image. Within the salient image is a vector where your eyes are drawn towards and then follow a path to where the artist wishes you to look. In the image ‘Home’ Heine has drawn a vector stemming from the centre of the young girl, which is then followed up the girl’s arm where she has written the simple word ‘Home’ as a logo upon the singular house. This provokes thoughts as to whether the child and her mother standing to her left actually have a place to call ‘Home’.…
In ‘The drover’s wife’ Lawson creates powerful images by employing distinctively visual language that enables the responder to feel the hardships that others face. Concrete sensory description is effectively used to create a beautiful image when The Drover’s wife sits to watch the snake all night. ‘A green sapling club laid in readiness on the dresser by her side, together with her sewing basket and copy of the young ladies journal.’ The journal is symbolic of the approach she takes in not letting the bush take away her femininity. Juxtaposing to this, the club is symbolic of what she needs to do, it displays her innovative ways and her ability to be content with her lifestyle. The sewing basket acts as a ‘bridge’ between the two as it represents both sides of the woman. Images of a resourceful, cooperative and woman of sophistication are conjured up in the responders mind. One is able establish a relationship of commendation with the drover’s wife whilst despising the Australian Bush for what it puts her through.…
Robert Gray is a weaver of images, at the loom of the mind. He creates sensual images that elicit and evoke responses from the responder. His poems 'Meatworks' and 'Flames and Dangling Wire', both social commentaries, exemplify techniques he calls upon in order to reproduce the personas feelings, emotions and thoughts through powerful images.…
Kenneth Slessor’s poem William Street demonstrates the use of an Urban Australian voice through the use of techniques and effects. Slessor takes a real scene and situation and recreates it so that the reader can imaginatively experience the situation through the use of sensory imagery, sounds and emotions associated with the Kings Cross. The opening stanza focuses on William Street, on a rainy night through “The red globe of light”. The visual imagery of the Cross portrays the radiant colours and lights as if it is photographed. The symbolism showed in “red globe of light” connotes the prostitution displayed in Kings Cross which portrays the danger placed in the word “red”.…
The poem, ‘Lady feeding the cats’ by Douglas Stewart is distinctively visual as it challenges the reader to move beyond first impressions. The responder is led to reassess how we view people and places and the assumptions made about them. The poet does this by firstly confirming the preconceptions of the woman, the cats and her physical environment. This is evident in stanza one through Stewart’s use of visual imagery; ‘’broken shoes, slums weather stains’’ explaining to the reader the economic standing of the woman in the world and her physical being as she moves forward to feeding the cats. This is reinforced by the sibilance providing a striking visual image of the physical and economic hardship. However, in stanza 3 the woman is portrayed to be acquainted with respect by the cats as they get their feeding.…
Luke Chandler has a passion for baseball which is his American dream. His one desire is to be a professional baseball player but back then baseball was not a real career. Instead Luke was following in his family’s footsteps in cotton picking and helping out with work on the farm. In this book. John Grisham shows how people don’t always get to follow their American dream.…
In the essay "A View from a Bridge," the author, Cherokee Paul McDonald attempts to describe the world through words to a boy with no sight. McDonald uses very detailed descriptions of this account and in turn realizes that beauty is too often overlooked in everyday life.…
Robert Grey is an imagist who paints with words. Using imagery in his poems, Grey is able to visually communicate emotions and ideas. His poetry is concerned with the urbanisation effects on Australian nature and changes it brought within the lifestyle. This is metaphorically expressed in the poem ‘Journey: The North Coast’ as he dwells on the sheer beauty that can be found in the natural world in contrast to the alienated environments manufactured by men. In contrast to the idea of modernisation, Grey also expresses values of love and respect for the environment and nature through the physical and emotional journey. Additionally, the idea of Australian landscapes and strong sense of identity in ‘Journey: The North Coast’ reflects in poet’s visualisation of the country side where he allows the readers to explore the beauty of Australian landscapes and empathize with the poet.…
The most important element is how the shape of the human is faded and is being constricted. The lack of colour in the artwork shows the depression and loneliness of Aboriginal Australians who were separated.…