Analysis Of The Violets By Gwen Harwood

In his article “The Loss of The Creature,” Walker Percy presents the case that human or “creature’s” experiences are most often trivial because of our preconceived notions. Percy believes we can only truly enjoy these experiences if we leave the “beaten track.” Only then can we see the true beauty of the experience.

What themes and ideas does Gwen Harwood explore in her poetry and how does she communicate her ideas to the reader

Some discoveries may be the result of significant experiences that one undergoes. In moving on from these experiences, the discoveries can be provoked and have the ability to open the eyes of individuals. Gwen Harwood’s “Father and Child” explores the growth and maturation of a child. Harwood shows the juxtaposition between innocence and maturity and the way that discovering this deepens the perception one has of the world. The

Sylvia Plath and Gwen Harwood tell two very different stories of parental relationships, Mother Who Gave Me Life praising Harwood’s mother and speaking with love and affection, whereas Plath’s Daddy is full of hate for her father. These reflections on the poet’s parental relationships are made using imagery, symbolism and tone.

Brooks creates a horrific imagery that abortions are terrible; and in the poem “The Mother “,she mirrors herself to reality to show the missed opportunities of a child, that women who have aborted their children, will miss. In the poem, it pinpoints a woman’s experience of aborting a child, and then feeling guilty about it, as a mother. In contrast to the author of the poem, Gwendolyn Brooks is a woman who has also aborted a child numerous of times, feels relentless. She communicates with her audience, women, through the poem to recap what the unborn children would become in the future such as singers and workers. “You were born, you had body, you died. It is you never giggled or planned or cried.” When Brooks talk about the missed opportunities that women will never see, she refers to a mother with treacherous experiences. Symbolically, she reflects as a role model for all women who have undergone the situation.

"You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key? She has lived for nineteen years. Over and over, we are told of the limitations on choice--"it was the only way"; "They persuaded me" and verbs of necessity recur for descriptions of both the mother's and Emily's behavior. " In such statements as "my wisdom ! came too late," the story verges on becoming an analysis of parental guilt. With the narrator, we construct an image of the mother's own development: her difficulties as a young mother alone with her daughter and barely surviving during the early years of the depression; her painful months of enforced separation from her daughter; her gradual and partial relaxation in response to a new husband and a new family as more children follow; her increasingly complex anxieties about her first child; and finally her sense of family balance which surrounds but does not quite include the early memories of herself and Emily in the grips of survival needs. In doing so she has neither trivialized nor romanticized the experience of motherhood; she has indicated the wealth of experience yet to be explored in the story’s possibilities of experiences, like motherhood, which have rarely been granted serious literary consideration. Rather she is searching for

As we develop from children to adults, our perception of our parents can change drastically. The theme of the loss of innocence is portrayed in both poems, through the relationship with a father. Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Daddy’ is an extremely personal confession about realising her father was not the role model she had believed when she was young. The poem mentions that her father “died before I had time” and she “was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die and get back, back, back to you”. The tone of the entire poem is bitter and sharp as Plath pours all her internalized feelings towards her father into the poem. Gwen Harwood explores the same theme of losing childhood innocence, but in a distinctly different way. The poem tells a story of a small child, who is determined to lose their innocence and is instead “a horny fiend”, sneaking out with their father’s gun. Harwood’s poetry sheds light on the idea of wisdom and growth and the desire children feel to be considered mature. Plath ends her poem in a defiant tone, claiming “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”, indicating she is done with thinking about or mourning him and has reached a point where she can move on from the grief he has caused her. On the other hand, Harwood’s poem ends grimly, after the child’s father tells them to “End what you have begun” and the child kills the owl, before “I leaned my head upon my father’s arm, and wept, owl blind in

R.F Briessendens “ A free-talented tongue: some notes on the poetry of Gwen Harwood” can be found in the “Poetry Criticisms” volume 160 in which the latter provides multiple interpretations , from academics and poets, of the Gwen Harwood’s poem “In the park”. Most notable is the interpretation of the former poem by the esteemed poet and academician Andrew Taylor. In specific terms, Andrew Taylor serves to discuss Gwen’s transition from the life a poet to that of a woman without an identity. Essentially, Taylor’s interpretation of the former poem informs other literary academics, or even layman readers, of the destructive nature of which motherhood can be derived from . Taylors interpretation is significant as it relates to the overall topic of motherhood. Thus, it would be imperative to use Taylors succinct, well developed in depth discussion of Gwen Harwood’s “In the park” for my own literary research essay on Harwood’s treatment of motherhood.

In the poem “Mother Who Game Me Life”, Harwood relates to a profoundly personal experience and also reflects upon human history to display the self-sacrificing figure of motherhood. Here, the declination of a mother to her daughter throughout the passage of time and change, is made eternal by the typical nurturing role of a mother, that is universal to the human condition. The individual experience is expressed through Harwood’s personal tone of reflection and sentimentality, in which the use of personal pronouns convey a confidential and sincere connection between a daughter and her mother. “Mother who gave me life, the wisdom I would not learn from you”, strikes unity within the audience through the use of her authentic reflection on a universal

Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the most celebrated poets and some of her poems have been at the center of academic discussion for many years. One of her most famous poems includes ‘The Boy Died on My Alley’, which will particularly form the center of discussion in this study. The study will focus primarily on the critical analysis that helps to define and to unify the central argument. In addition, the study will also examine some of the aspects that make this poem unique and worthwhile. Moreover, the study will critically analyze the techniques used by the author, the arguments that are central to the piece and how these techniques help to define the importance of the literature.

Yvonne Ridley is a British Journalist, who was held prisoner by the Taliban when sneaking into Afghanistan tending to write a paper. Ridley is the political editor of the Islam Television channel in London, and author of Into the hands of the Taliban: Her Extraordinary Story. Ridley uses an aggressive tone and logos to prove her degree to her Audience Which Consist of the western civilization that they are totally wrong about the Islamic civilization and customs. Ridley’s biggest advantage in her writing is when she cross-references western civilization to Islamic civilization, by using surveys and statistics to prove her points that westerns are no better than Islamic or the people that follow their heritage.

In “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks, a voice is given to a woman grieving her unborn children. The reader of this poem is subjected to the same feelings the speaker possess. The unnamed speaker feels heartache and guilt for the lives that were taken away from the children and she feels adoration for the lives that could have been if it were not for her taking their life away. The author uses metaphors, rhyme schemes, and imagery to develop the theme and tone of the poem. Without taking a side on the very politicised topic of abortion, Brooks is able to describe the feelings of a woman who has had multiple abortions.

During the discussion on memory, we deliberated on the difference between emotional, procedural and episodic memory, the correlation between identity and humanity, the perception of time, and the ability of self-realization. Firstly, we explicated the emotional aspect of Clive Wearing’s severe case of amnesia, but also realized his love for Deborah (his wife) and music were bittersweet. His raw emotional memory was left untouched, whereas his episodic memory was severely affected. Furthermore, we examined the parallels between identity and humanity. Some believed that being human means to display emotions, whereas others affirmed that emotions require episodic memory. Moreover, we concluded that memory is inherently altered through repetition.

Collin’s purpose of evoking emotion to the reader and signifying the continual process of forgetting is revealed through small attention to detail such as the common diction and personification. Collins uses very clever and witty images to describe the process of forgetting to ironically make it seem that memories are not as important, although they are significant in individuals lives: “the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain.” Here Collins plays on the idea of an older person retiring not only from a job, but retiring from his or her own mind. Collins reaches out to the older audience saying that forgetting is a normal process of life, one that must be accepted. Collins also personifies the phrase “the quadratic equation pack(ed) its bag” to explain that important facts are decreasing, showing that the mind has no control later in life. He also uses personification to give the writing more variation and to

Of the many things that people can learn as individuals, life lessons are one of the greatest. We start out small, inexperienced, fools in this wide, wide world. Then, gradually, ever so slowly through the years, we start to learn. There are a few key events in every person’s life, prominent memories that change that person, making him or her wiser. We could not have grown into the people we are now without these special moments, and while most of these occasions are not pleasant ones for the individual, there can be no doubt in their significance.