Gwen Harwood (maiden name Gwen Foster) * 1920 – 1995 * Australian Poet * Mother of author John Harwood * 420 works * 386 Poems * 13 Librettos EARLY LIFE Born in Tarringa‚ Queensland. Brought up in Brisbane. She attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School and was an organist at All Saints Church when she was young. She completed a music teacher’s diploma‚ and also worked as a typist at the War Damage Commission from 1942. PERSONAL LIFE Gwen moved to Tasmania after her marriage
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written by Gwen Harwood has a lot of social commentary and is speaking to you about a lot of things that it feels are important. It is looking to make a lot of points about Australian society and the sacrifice of having children and of living a suburban lifestyle. Gwen Harwood’s ‘Suburban Sonnet’ is a fourteen line poem with strong values of urban Australia. The poem‚ Suburban Sonnet‚ idealizes the harsh realities of an Australian housewife‚ creating sympathetic tones to the readers. Gwen Harwood was
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The Violets by Gwen Harwood was written during the late 1960s and was published in the anthology Selected Poems in 1975. As we know‚ Harwood’s poems explore philosophical and universal ideas. Harwood herself says “My themes are old ones – of love‚ memory‚ experience etc”‚ all of which are explored in this poem through the use of poetic and language techniques. Literally‚ the persona of the poem is outside when some aspects of the nature around her‚ like violets and a blackbird‚ trigger a memory from
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explore the ideas in Gwen Harwood’s poetry through analysing its construction‚ content and language. They research others’ perspectives of the poems and test these against their own understanding and interpretation of the text. Question: In your view‚ how have poetic techniques been used to reveal memorable ideas in Harwood’s poetry? Poetry is an expression of emotions. Communication of time and relationships are conveyed through many of the poems composed by Gwen Harwood. Factors contributing
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Gwen Harwood‚ An Australian poet who‚ seems to develop an imaginative‚ rich form of poetry through the use of recurring themes‚ complex language techniques and even further through the use of sophisticated structures only seen in the most prestigious of poems in the modern era. Gwen Harwood has a tendency to write poetry that is significant in all eras‚ cultures and/or societies of the world as she captures‚ and develops them into a strong universal theme that recurs strongly. These themes seem to
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The poem “Father and Child” by Gwen Harwood shows Harwood’s father teaching her the concepts of life and death‚ from when she is a young child in “Barn Owl” up to when she is around forty at the time of his death in “Nightfall”‚ coming to accept the idea that life is not never-ending. In part one called “Barn Owl”; she has learnt to accept death as a component of life. The persona of the poem experiences a loss of innocence with the discovery of the tragedy of death. Before shooting the owl‚ the
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Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” and Gwen Harwood’s poem “In the Park” explore the concept of loss diversely. Plath’s poem surrounds the distress regarding the inevitability of aging and its impact while Harwood’s poem explores how the truth cannot be hidden when faced with motherhood. In the opening verses of “Mirror‚” the narrator commences its narration by declaring itself neutral. It announces it has “no preconceptions” and without bias or emotions it will metaphorically “swallow immediately” what
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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
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Gwen Harwood- Father and Child The ability of a text to be universally accepted in a range of contexts ultimately determines its textual integrity and appreciation. Gwen Harwood’s work draws from the inspiration of her context‚ her lifelong influences‚ primarily music‚ her childhood and religious beliefs. This can be identified through study of Gwen Harwood’s poem‚ "Father and Child" that is able to be appreciated in a multitude of different contexts due to its universality and textual integrity
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Gwen Harwood’s poetry focuses on the concepts of loss and consolation‚ which‚ through her exploration of universal themes and deft use of poetic and literary techniques‚ has continued to engage readers over the ages. My understanding of her poems resonates with these ideas about them‚ as does it the notion that Harwood’s poetry examines ideas of the growth towards maturity‚ understanding and wisdom‚ and the connection this shares with the conventional images of youth and age. The poems “Father and
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