Gwen_Harwood's_'the_Violets'_and_'Father_and_Child'

Gwen Harwood – Critical Study of Texts Gwen Harwood is one of Australia’s finest and most recognised poets, with her works winning numerous prizes and awards. Harwood was born in 1920 in a town in Queensland and she was raised in Brisbane. In 1945, after her marriage, she moved to Tasmania where she developed most of her works. Her sudden move to Tasmania and loss of her childhood city had made her outlook on life a lot differently. This sudden change can be seen in most of her poetry through different interpretations which reflect different values and beliefs, where the persona deals with both loss and consolation. Harwood continues to engage many readers through her poetry with the use of these two major themes. These themes are related to the life of Harwood and the persona in the poem’s own childhood and understanding. Two poems which display the themes of loss and consolation clearly are Father and Child and The Violets, where the themes are explored through the use of techniques and the reader’s personal understanding of the poems. The theme of loss in Father and Child is explored through the little girl shooting the owl in the first part of the poem, ‘Barn Owl’. The little girl shoots the owl and due to this, she loses her innocence as a young female and this causes her to be exiled from her childhood. The young girl describes herself as a “horny fiend” which symbolises the devil, which doesn’t show that she wanted to lose her innocence at that specific moment by shooting the owl, but instead shows that she wanted to act like a masculine and mature figure by shooting something as a gun is usually used by a male to kill wild animals. The young girl thought that she wanted to be more mature but due to that, she had lost her innocence as a little child. The use of short and simple sentences during ‘Barn Owl’ shows the youth of the girl and how great the responsibility was which she undertook when she decided to shoot the owl. Another loss in Father and Child is the loss of life which can be seen in both parts of the poem. In the first part of the poem, ‘Barn Owl’, the loss of the owl’s life is shown and the young girl learns about death not being quick and clean. In the second part of the poem, ‘Nightfall’, the father is very elderly and fragile. The mature woman understands that the father will die very soon and that she will lose her father. In the first part of the poem, the persona does not understand about life and death and when she wounds the owl, she realises that death isn’t instant. Commanding language is used by the father to make the girl understand the wrong action she has committed. “End what you have begun”, shows the father wanting the girl to take responsibility for the owl by taking its life with another shot with the gun. The father wanted her to understand about the seriousness of death and to realise that death is a horrific thing. In the second part of the poem, ‘Nightfall’, the mature persona understands about life and death. This can be seen through the metaphor, “long-promised land”, which is meant for heaven. The persona knows about the loss of her father’s life and she knows her time will come soon too. The Violets is about a young girl who sleeps through an entire day and wakes up in the evening. Her loss of morning is very tragic to her and she does not understand why it was ‘stolen’ from her. The use of negative emotive language, such as describing the day was “stolen” from her, by the persona shows that she is very angry and frustrated about the loss of her morning. The persona uses very dark and negative imagery to describe night, as if it were a bad thing. “While dusk surrendered pink and white to blurring darkness”. This quote describes the daytime giving into the darkness and letting the darkness take it away so easily. The persona is deeply affected by her loss of daytime, but due to it she discovers that the loss of time is irreversible and cannot be retrieved or changed ever again. “Years cannot move”, this quote shows that the persona knows that the past cannot change and it is lost forever. In the first few stanzas, the persona begins to learn how time works, then later in the poem, she understands how time works. The stone-curlews in stanza five represent the sunset and end of the day. It shows she is content now with it being the end of the day and with the loss of her time. In Father and Child, consolation is a main theme which the father plays a major role in. The father creates the ‘law’ and he also is the one who comforts the young distressed girl. The persona shoots the owl and needs help and advice on what to do. The father commands her to shoot it again, and then he comforts her by letting her lean her head upon his arm. The role of consolation gets reversed in the second part of the poem, ‘Nightfall’, where the daughter comforts the fragile, elderly father as she knows he’s nearing the end of his life. The father is consoling too in ‘Nightfall’ and is referenced to King Lear as being old and fragile, “Be your tears wet'” Harwood made this reference to show the helplessness, fragility and warmth of her old father, as King Lear was blind, he was very vulnerable which much relates to the persona’s father. The persona is much more open and accepting to death when she is mature rather when she was little. She sees death in a more positive sense, using similes and metaphors to describe the father passing away soon, “your night and day are one”. This quote shows that the father is going to die and that the parts of the day are coming together and it is only a matter of time before his end. The persona’s memories are also consolation for her. Memories of ‘Barn Owl’ in ‘Nightfall’ describe her childhood not as cruel or evil, but an act of misbehaviour. “Child once quick to mischief”, which relates to the death of the owl. She does not see herself as cruel, but instead thinks that every child went through the loss of a pet or animal to learn about life and death. The persona is consoled by both her father and her memories in Father and Child as they both comforted her and allowed her to think positively in the future. The Violets includes a theme of consolation, as the little girl is frustrated and annoyed at the fact that a whole day has been stolen from her. She does not like time being stolen from her so she describes her waking from a “fearful half-sleep”. This personification allows sleep to seem like a negative thing which the persona wants to avoid. Her parents try to console her by using words of endearment, “It will soon be night, you goose” and offering and showing her violets. The violets in this poem symbolise time, as they go through many stages; seed, flower then wilting away and dying. The young girl declines to smell the violets, or be comforted as she did not want to accept that time had disappeared and been stolen from her. In the last stanza, when the persona finally accepts that time cannot be retrieved and the past will always stay the same, she finally smells the violets. Smelling the violets means finally understanding how time and loss work. The violets comforted her as they helped her understand and realise the facts about time. The persona’s parents try to console her by reading her a story and giving her milk to fall asleep and not worry about life and time. If a Christian reading is applied to this poem, the “father’s house” could be seen a comforting place for the young child. The “father’s house” could be a church where it is peaceful and quiet, which allowed the persona to be consoled. “Harwood’s poetry continues to engage readers through its poetic treatment of loss and consolation”. This statement is very correct as both the themes mentioned are major and the poems wouldn’t have the same effect if the themes weren’t in use. In Father and Child and The Violets, loss and consolation could be seen to be the major themes which allowed the readers to explore the understanding of the poems. In Father and Child, the young girl is extremely upset about the loss of the owl’s life and then the loss of her father. The father consoles the persona in both parts of the poem and memories also play a major role in comforting the persona in part two of the poem, ‘Nightfall’. In The Violets, a young girl is upset because the loss of her precious time and daylight. The parents console the young girl by giving her violets which help her understanding of time. Harwood’s poetry continues to be successful due to the themes of loss and consolation throughout the finest poems.