Poetry_by_Gwen_Harwood_-_Father_and_Child,_at_Mornington

ADVANCED ENGLISH-CRITICAL STUDY OF TEXTS MODULE B: POETRY BY GWEN HARWOOD ESSAY In many of Gwen Harwood’s poems there are recurring themes of childhood memories, growing up, ageing, the significance of relationships, the concept of life and death and her sentiments towards these themes throughout these life stages, in developing her adult perspectives. It is the integration of these attitudes and ideas, into these themes that demonstrate her adult perspectives. Harwood’s ideas and attitudes showcase her philosophical, musical and religious interests and background along with her inquisitive nature. This evident through the study of themes and techniques in her poems “Father and Child: Barn Owl and Nightfall”, “At Mornington” and many others. Childhood is a time where the formation of the necessities for adulthood begins, on the surface of tiny, innocent brains absorbing all their surrounds. This absorption initiates the creation of memories which serve as elusive reminders, furthering the development of the brain’s ideas and attitudes towards life as we age, thus creating adult perspectives. Harwood’s childhood was heavily influenced by those adults surrounding her, especially her mother, grandmother and father. Harwood’s mother and grandmother were highly religious and her father was very musical and could play the piano and violin by ear. Harwood took a liking to music but it wasn’t until early middle-age she realised it was in fact the thoughts, expressions and rhythm behind the music that attracted her. Venturing into motherhood further developed her religious and spiritual beliefs as she was liberated with each child born, beginning to question the idea of being, instigating her deep philosophical interests. She followed the philosopher Wittgenstein, who believed there was more to life than the scientific definition of “being alive” and that “being” also existed on a much higher level through the human emotion and spirit. They believed that it was through poetry that this other level of being was expressed and experienced. This spiritual belief is displayed in the poem “The Sharpness of Death” in great detail. “Father and Child” shows comparison of a vivid childhood memory in “Barn Owl” and learned adult perspectives in “Nightfall”. Overall this poem 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 of mortal life. Literally, “Barn Owl” is a poem about a naive, young girl defying her father’s wishes and sneaking out to shoot an owl, it is quite simple which suggests a child-like nature. The recurring motif of blindness throughout the poem emphasises this naivety. The use of the persona retelling the past also shows how she has matured as a person from being a naive child to a mature adult. “Nightfall” is more metaphorical and symbolic suggesting a more mature nature, but is literally a child grown to adult age spending time with her father before he dies. The use of these two sub-poems suggests that there is a comparison to be made between them. The same structure of seven, six-line stanzas with iambic trimeters and similar rhyme scheme of “ababcc” reinforces the idea of this comparison. The main focus of this poem is the father-daughter relationship. As the persona grows, she develops from being childishly innocent and unknowing to having a mature understanding towards the issue of death and the emotions encompassing it thus developing adult perspectives. “At Mornington” demonstrates the power of memories in the present and the way in which these frame specific moments in life to give meaning to special events. It explores the issues of friendship over time and how friendship will still exist post-death due to these memories and the significance of events and meanings within these memories. The main focus of this poem is the friendship she has with Thomas Riddell. The structure of “At Mornington” is quite different to that of “Father and Child” with quite large, non-rhyming stanzas, suggesting the mind is flowing through all of these thoughts and feelings, almost rambling, one thought bouncing to another, emphasising the power of human emotions. The positioning of childhood memories against the events of present emphasises that childhood memories and influences help to shape adult perspectives. It is through the use of many language forms and features, such as metaphors, similes, imagery, motifs and so on, that Gwen Harwood expresses how her ideas and attitudes towards life were formed from remembered childhood events and influences. Harwood’s ideas and attitudes towards life and death at different stages of her life are clearly presented in the majority of her poems through the use of many literary techniques. The poem “Father and Child” is undoubtedly an example of how she discovers death, when she is a child, continuing up to when she is an adult. This represents the beginning and development of her philosophical interests. “Barn Owl” illustrates how the child shoots an owl, the phrase “a wisp-haired judge” implies the power that the innocent child gains by handling the gun, ready to shoot the owl, “wisp-haired” reinforces the youth of the child. The phrase “master of life and death” suggests that Harwood believes the power of death is behind those or that in which control it, reflecting her philosophical nature. Stanza Five begins with a short, sentence “My first shot struck”, this mimics the sound of the gun and the impact of death beginning. The remainder of the stanza is a long sentence describing the owl’s pain as it is slowly dying, the length of this sentence combined with the repetition of punctuation, in the form of commas, subliminally demonstrates the heavy short breaths of the animal coping with the pain of death. The oxymoron use of the words “clean”, “final” and “obscene” shows the impact that her discovery of the gruesome side of death had on her childhood thoughts of death in general. She was no longer naive to the terrifying nature that the concept of death has at times. “Nightfall” shows a deeper understanding of death as she ages, with the death of her father occurring and is an example of her adult perspectives. The symbolism of the imagery presented through the poem is of the passing of time, this is shown in words like “temporal”, “transience”, “late”, “night and day”, “grown” and “ancient”, this represents the ageing of the father and child and emphasises how they have grown both physically and mentally. The line “Your passionate face is grown to ancient innocence” suggests that ageing returns the human brain to the innocence of when they were a child and so enhancing that cyclic nature of innocence and life. “Let us walk for this hour as if death had no power” suggests that the persona is no longer afraid of the concept of death like she was as a child in “Barn Owl”, she has learnt to accept death as a component of life. However, the last line of “what sorrows in the end, no words, no tears can mend” releases an element of inexpressible sadness that she has towards the death of her father showing that although she accepts death, it still upsets her as it did in “Barn Owl”. “At Mornington” demonstrates Harwood’s views on life and death differently to “Father and Child”. Childhood memories are again encompassed with the present in this poem. The emphasis of childhood memories in this poem is to further explain the concept of even though death will occur, memories will always last if they are held close. The recurring motif of nature and more specifically water in this poem demonstrates the power of the living, suggesting that death is only given power by the living. In the first stanza the childhood memory of being “taken to the sea’s edge, for the first time” shows her childhood naivety believing that she could “walk on water”, this biblical allusion to Jesus walking on water shows how she cheated death, the same as Jesus. The comparison that the persona makes to herself and pumpkins in the third stanza shows how as death is nearing she is metaphorically “a skinful of elements, climbing from earth to the fastness of light” symbolising her passing from the physical to the spiritual world when she will die. The childhood memory of laughing at “a hollowed pumpkin with candle flame for eyesight” is a metaphor for her laughing at death as being some silly thing meant to frighten her, showing her acceptance of death once again. “When I am seized at last” demonstrates that she is ready for death now that she has had this “one day, only one” with her best friend creating memories which will be “more than enough to refresh” them. The significance of the memory of this day is displayed through the simile of “will shine like light on the face of waters that bear me away for ever” There are many techniques used in the poems to suggest that the ideas of personal relationships are very important to her in life. For example, in the poem “Barn Owl” the juxtaposition of the metaphor “a horny fiend” with “obedient angel- mild” shows how the persona recalls herself as being, and what she believed her father thought her to be, showing the cheeky, childhood nature of outsmarting their elders . The use of the word “angel” suggests the closeness of the father-daughter relationship. Also the line “I leaned my head upon my father’s arm, and wept,” shows the caring and comforting nature of the father. However, “Nightfall” makes apparent that this childish nature towards her father ceases to exist and that she has developed great respect for her father. This is first implied through the phrase “Father and child, we stand in time’s long promised land” shows a united front facing death together and again emphasised through the rhetorical question of “Who can be what you were'” adding a sense of awe as she recalls her father’s “marvellous journey”. Also, the use of direct speech from the father asking, “Be your tears wet'” is an allusion to Shakespeare’s play “King Lear”, where King Lear asks this same question to his upset daughter Cordelia on his death bed, this is where King Lear discovers that Cordelia was the only child that truly cared for him, suggesting that the persona has been faithful in caring for her father up until his death. “Old king” is a similar allusion again implying that the persona appreciates her father’s life thinking it was great and it needs to be treasured. “Nightfall” is suggesting that although loved ones pass, it is important to hold the memories shared close; so spiritually, they are never really gone even though physically they have passed. This is also suggested through Harwood’s poem “A Valediction” where the persona reads John Donne’s poetry to be reminded of her loved one even though they are not physically there. It also shows Harwood’s desire for this spiritual and physical love after someone has passed to be met somewhere in between so that it is equal. This is shown through the allusion of Lou Salomé, who was a Russian psychoanalyst who had many sexual affairs with European men, “mistress to half of Europe” and the allusion of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux who was dedicated to the nunnery and her “transcendent lover”, God. The juxtaposition of these two women serve as representation of the physical love, which Salome experienced everyday and the spiritual love which Saint Thérèse was very committed to. “Dear Ladies, shall we meet halfway between sanctity and liberation” is the persona pleading for this physical and spiritual experience of love to be equal even after the loss of a loved one. In “At Mornington” the significance of relationships in her life is again emphasised through childhood memories juxtaposed against present events detailing a special relationship with a friend she does not see very often. Thomas Riddell was Gwen Harwood’s best friend; they shared a lot of fond memories between them, although they did not spend time together regularly. There is substantial textual evidence that demonstrates this close and personal relationship including, “while we stand, two friends of middle age, by your parents’ grave...” suggests that the persona’s familiarisation with the family of her friend which adds weighting to the friendship. The use of personal pronouns such as “you”, “we” and “us” emphasise the togetherness of their relationship. “At your side I think of death no more” shows that in her ageing she often thinks of death but with her friend she forgets it and focuses on the friendship. The last couple of lines emphasise that “the peace of this day” will be a memory that people will share of her after she dies, “will shine like light on the face of the waters that bear me away for ever” giving power to the spiritual friendship remaining after she is physically gone. Personally; although, through all the textual evidence above, the statement of “Harwood uses memories of childhood and growing up, contrasting them with her adult perspectives, to express her ideas and attitudes towards life” appears to be true, it is considered for interpretation as poetry is highly subjective and personal to every reader. Literature experts can extrapolate many differing meanings of the interrelationship of the themes and techniques throughout these texts and respond to this statement diversely, compared to everyday substantially educated individuals. This is important to remember when critically analysing complex texts like poetry. However, through my studies of Gwen Harwood’s background, interests and adult perspectives, I found the above statement to be true in many of Harwood’s texts, specifically, “Father and Child” and “At Mornington”.