Gwen_Harwood_Essay

Harwood’s poetry continues to engage readers through its poetic treatment of change and time. In the light of your critical study, does this statement resonate with your own interpretation of Harwood’s poetry' Gwen Harwood’s poetry has withstood the test of time to become a collection of very relevant, engaging poetry. Her underlying themes, particularly in At Mornington and The Violets, have ensured the longevity of her work. Harwood’s poems, on a very simplistic level, are about change and time and the impact on the persona. The reader recognizes this theme because it is an essential part of every person’s life. By doing this, Harwood engages the reader with an initial personal interest in her poetry. When delving deeper into a more critical aspect of her works it is evident that whilst change and time are central themes, Harwood’s extensive use of literary techniques offer a much more diverse range of ideas including universal experiences of memory, emotions and relationships which relate to every reader. This element of personal identification is central to an appreciation of Harwood’s poetry. At Mornington expresses the contemplative view of the passing of time and gaining of wisdom at a seemingly basic level. It reflects on a family anecdote from the perspective of a child beginning with “I was taken to the sea’s edge, for the first time..” This is a clever use of personal pronouns to convey a human emotion through memory. However, it also reflects the passing of time, from the experience of childhood from their perspective, right through to a much later time for an adult. This is reflected by an experience with the wisdom of hindsight. The Violets have also used the image of a child and the concept of childhood innocence to show that the emotions of a child will often change as they grow and develop through to adulthood. “As I sobbed, where’s morning gone'” suggests the child’s confusion as to the advancement of time. Time is elusive in both Harwood’s poems, The Violets and At Mornington and is depicted as something that should be valued but can never be relived or replaced. At Mornington uses the inexperience of childhood demonstrated by innocence and naivety to present the journey of a child’s growth, like the pumpkin reaching for light despite being limited by time, which Harwood describes as “the vines were rising / To flourish the fruits of earth.” The child, like the pumpkins have no regard for the restrictions of gravity and reality, instead they persevere regardless to reach for the light. At Mornington uses hindsight and memory to show the passing of time and its effect on memory. She writes “These memories of early childhood/ Iridescent, fugitive/ As light in a sea-wet shell.” By using this metaphor of light trapped in a sea- shell, Harwood presents the idea that while memories are beautiful and “iridescent” they can change and alter as the reflection of light in a wet shell does once it is moved and dry. Memory and its fallibility is a very central theme used by Harwood in her poetry and memory is a snapshot of a faction of time. Thus, At Mornington can be interpreted as a poem that not only addresses time but also memory. Harwood demonstrates through metaphors that the passing of time and the sequence of life changes will impact, alter and often distort perceptions of a moment in time illustrated when she writes, “indeed I remember believing / As a child, I could walk on water.” Childhood innocence is evident in this line as a child’s belief in something is often enough for it to become reality in the child’s mind. The biblical allusion to Jesus walking on water further supports the idea of a child’s faith to achieve anything. This can change over time as the child journeys through life’s experiences. Water imagery that is seen throughout the poem, At Mornington, acts as a metaphor for the flow of memory and life and how water will continue to flow unchanged, regardless of life and death. Water can represent the passing of time and continuity of life, “There is still some water left over.” This use of water shows that whilst time will change and age the persona, the water will continue to remain. The Violets is, like At Mornington at its most simplistic, a poem that simple narrates experiences in the personas childhood. The Violets presents memories in an introspective view illustrating the journey through time, beginning with of memory towards discovery and understanding. It does this through anecdotes in a narrative form. The use of this form ensures the accessibility of the meaning to the poem to every reader. In The Violets, the poem connects the past and the present, and illustrates the view that while time will change many things, memories are always personal and untouchable. This poem rests on the view that memories and the effect of time on people reflect mortality and the inevitable passing of time. The acceptance of time passing is a major issue when addressing the poem At Mornington by Gwen Harwood. The poem begins with the belief that the child can walk on water (“I could walk on water”) and then as the child has grown and changed, the initial belief is the same. The persona still believes that time cannot change her (“in airy defiance of nature.”) This line is in relation to the pumpkins on the trellis and their desire to reach towards the light as the persona is attempting to do. No change has occurred in the persona’s determined nature. In saying this, by the end of the poem, she realizes that while determination will allow you to survive through life and the voyage of time, “no hand will save me” from the ultimate; death. Time and death is inescapable and this is seen in The Violets when the child, through innocent eyes, sees the violet’s as beautiful “spring violets in their loamy bed.” The beauty of the violets in their current state amazes the child and the child’s belief that the violets will stay like this shows their lack of understanding of time. The adult because of their experiences knows that the flower will die and that beauty doesn’t last forever, “melancholy flowers among ashes and loam.” This shows the understanding of death and how everything, right from people, down to a violet, undergoes a change of some sort that will take them to the next area of their life. Harwood’s use of dualities of past and present shows that our childhood experiences are responsible for shaping our adult lives and its how we allow them to affect us that determine our future person. The nature of change and time and how Gwen Harwood expresses these themes contribute to the overall energy of the poem and its ability to convey meaningful messages that last for decades. The stanza's and lines that deal with memory/past in The Violets are all indented thus she uses form to accentuate content by differentiating between parts that deal with present to those that deal with the past. In comparison with At Mornington, Harwood uses repetition of words that are associated with time to show how whimsical time is and that it will pass regardless of what happens. “We only have one day, only one.” Some contrasts are evident between At Mornington where Harwood’s idea of memory recognizes the reality of time altering memories, to The Violets which says “years cannot move nor death’s distorting scale distort those lamplit presences,” which suggests the persona’s ability to retain the memory even through changing situations and the passage of time. By doing this, Harwood ensures that personal perspective is vital to fully appreciate her poetry. The Violets address not only memory and childhood but also focuses strongly on death and how with the acceptance of the passing of time, will come the acceptance of death. Death is a substantial part of time and the inevitability of death is likened with the inevitability of the passage of time. The Violets impart the child’s inability to rationalise the passage of time, the thing she “cannot grasp or name”. The child-like belief in immortality is juxtaposed by the simile of the sunset which is “striped like ice-cream” This symbolizes the approach of death. By using such a rich simile, the child can enjoy the sunset and life as it is, whilst an adult view would understand that the sunset, like the violets, would eventually die and fade away. Harwood's use of multi-faceted similes gives depth to her work and appeals to a wider audience, ensuring the continuing popularity of her work. Gwen Harwood is a personal and subjective poet who represents characters and their situations clearly, emotively and accurately. As is seen in both At Mornington and The Violets peoples experience and response to the passing of time and the effect of change on a person are varied and diverse. What Harwood has done in each of these poems is to present to the reader the continuity of time regardless of the persona’s feelings and experience. Her use of the child’s relationship with time and understanding provides a strong pillar for which to expand her universal themes of memory and death. In doing this she captures the underlying tones of each human emotion that triggers within the reader a very emotive response. Her use of imagery and personal pronouns engages the reader and makes the poems very personal experiences not only for Harwood but for the reader as well. As death relates so heavily to time, Harwood has cleverly included aspects and attitudes of death in her poems. Using this element she encompasses the raw human emotions and the way that they are dealt with. Her use of similes and metaphors softens the often-harsh reality of death. Gwen Harwood’s extensive and personal method of writing has ensured that her poems will continue to impact readers for many years to come.