Outward Appearance In Gwen Harwood's Poem 'In The Park'

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

Gwen Harwood’s poetry is very powerful for its ability to question the social conventions of its time, positioning the reader to see things in new ways. During the 1960’s, a wave of feminism swept across Australian society, challenging the dominant patriarchal ideologies of the time. Gwen Harwood’s poems ‘Burning Sappho’ and ‘Suburban Sonnet’ are two texts that challenge the dominant image of the happy, gentle, but ultimately subservient housewife. Instead, ‘Burning Sappho’ is powerful in constructing the mother as violent to reject the restraints placed on her by society, whilst Suburban Sonnet addresses the mental impact of the female gender’s confinement to the maternal and domestic sphere. Harwood employs a range of language and

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.

Gwen Harwood, a contemporary female poet, born in Brisbane Australia in the 1920 's, wrote her poetry during a time where Australian society held dominant gender ideologies that focused on domesticating women. A widely held belief of a passive, nurturing mother figure who looked after her children and complied with her duties as a 'house-wife ', whilst men were viewed as the sole source of income and had a minimal nurturing role with children, was shared, along with ideas of male superiority, and of masculine qualities being superior to feminine qualities, both of which were only expected to be embodied by males and females respectively. The construction of people, places and institutions through poetic conventions in Harwood 's poetry allows the audience to identify these cultural beliefs in conventional gender roles and expectations within 1950 's Australian society in particular. These constructions critique the attitudes and values of the time, especially where women are concerned, and thus position the audience to reject the patriarchal assumptions of the time. Her poems Suburban Sonnet and Prize Giving are can be perceived as radical interpretations and criticisms of the views of the time they were written in, and attest to Harwood 's own beliefs of female independence and placing value on feminine and masculine roles and qualities equally. Harwood grew up with the main female figures in her life being her mother and grandmother, who were both very independent; her

The role of women in the modernism time period was less stern but still very constricting. Women in the modernist time period had more control over men than in the realism time period. The women had gained more control over what they did with the lives they lived. T.S Eliot shows that women have grown through the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by conveying that women have more control over their bodys (Mayer). The narrator of the poem wants a romantic relationship with his wife but cannot because she doesn't want one with him. The man in the poem knows that he cannot have sexual intercourse without his wife's permission and there is nothing he can do to change that. Women could now freely do as they pleased when it came to their bodys. Sandburg expresses in his poem that women are much more free and can do more so of what they please to, “painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys,” (Sandburg). Men started considering women as their equals and not just as objects. Women were now being allowed to express their opinions more openly. The women in the modernist time period could dress more elaborately with less judgment. Sandburg also shows that

Women during this time were meant to raise the children and take care of their household. They were not allowed to become very educated, unlike the boys who were able to attend school. Women only needed to become somewhat educated so that they were able to teach their children. Women had

Women and men are different in an abundance of ways. Not only are they physically different, but also mentally. It wasn’t until the early nineteen hundreds that women were finally considered as their own person, instead of just housewives. I believe women were not given the appreciation and value which they deserved. When they were finally viewed as more, they expressed themselves best through writing. Men also express themselves through writing; however, there is a discrepancy between women and men in the way they display their themes.

     Women of both the ages of Victorian and early Modernism were restricted from education at universities or the financial independence of professionalism. In both ages, women writers often rebelled against perceived female expectations as a result of their oppression. To lead a solitary life as a subservient wife and mother was not satisfactory for writers like Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Virginia Woolf. One of the most popular female poets of the Victorian era, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, illustrated "a woman's struggle to achieve artistic and economical independence in modern society" (Longman P.1858). Many Victorian critics were shocked by Barrett

For women poets there is a constant feeling of being second best to male poets and often their work is judged based on their gender rather than its literary quality. In this essay I will discuss the ways in which women poets have dealt with the constant comparisons to men, arguing that being a woman poet requires the determination to constantly stand up for your own work whilst also speaking for women in general and the prejudices that they face. Eavan Boland’s quote highlights the fact that for a long time it was believed that women didn’t possess the ability to write poetry, through the use of poets such as Margaret Atwood, Christina Rosetti and Carol Ann Duffy, I will present the ways in which women poets fought against this belief in order

The society was patriarchal. Women were deemed not smart enough or strong enough to own property, or to make marriage decisions or, unless she was in the nobility, to be educated. Women were expected to marry and then devote their lives to being good wives, mothers and

Women in the world we know now seem to be valued almost equally to men. Although, this was not always the case, before the twentieth century women were treated far different from they way they are treated today (Lynch & Stillinger 9). Starting in the mid Romantic era women slowly began to show courage and the strength to speak up about this. Mary Robinson and Christina Rossetti are two authors that give their own view about this through their writing. Women were less valuable in the past, their roles can be studied through literature after analysing authors works and their backgrounds.

During, the Romanticism and Realism stylistic periods women were portrayed differently and unfairly from the men but were still trying to become strong and powerful. In the Romanticism period, women were portrayed as being submissive to their husbands and taking care of the children while the men went to work and paid the bills. But in the Realism period, the women were portrayed as being strong and powerful but still didn’t have the right to vote. In the meantime, women were treated differently and overcome obstacles to be treated equally as men but however, they were still not able to do things like men did. Women were viewed as less human being because they were not considered to be intelligent and important as men were during these time

Writers such as Tennyson and Browning explored the societal expectations placed on Victorian women in their poems by describing them as powerless and weak woman who, in one way or another, need a man. Having to rely on a man for survival was normal for Victorian woman. Women understood that their destiny was to follow in the traditions of finding a husband and keeping him happy and never having an opinion on anything. It is as if the woman was purposely meant to be silenced and left to just be a small detail in terms of the big picture just to ensure the guarantee of the official male power, “a power that, deeming women unprincipled and emotional, advocated confining them to the domestic sphere where their true self could be easily neutralized” (Avarvarei 536). Men created the idea of women being these fragile human beings who aren’t smart enough to make their own decisions and needing a man to make them happy. Men needed to convince themselves that women were not capable of caring for themselves nor making their own decisions because men need to feel needed. A man’s ego is not satisfied unless a damsel in distress needs him to save her and become this huge hero that she will forever have to repay for essentially saving her life.

In one of his most famous works, renowned philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said “The whole education of women ought to be relative to men. To please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and honored by them, to educate them when young, to care for them when grown, to council them, to console them, and to make life agreeable and sweet to them — these are the duties of women at all times, and should be taught them from their infancy”. This was the mindset of the majority of people in eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe—that women were weak and inferior to men, and that their sole purpose was to please them. During the Georgian era of Britain, most men and women followed the gender roles of the time, and accepted the idea that a woman should be confined to her ‘domestic sphere’ of being a housewife and mother, and that she did not need education, opportunity, or opinions (“Women Writers in Eighteenth-Century England”). Women during this time were meant to obey the men around her, and were not supposed to have rights over their property, their children, or even over themselves (Johnson). While society’s ideals placed restrictions on women, there were a few significant women who fought against traditional standards, strove for independence, and pushed for social change through their writing. New authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Catharine Macaulay, and Jane Austen created works that challenged society’s perspective on women and influenced change in

Women in literature during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance accurately represents the way in which females were viewed, valued, and treated in society during the 15th and 16th century. “SAMPSON: ’Tis true; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall,” (Shakespeare, 1.1.14-17). In the literary pieces “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, female characters had limited and unequal roles in society compared to male characters. Literature written in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance often referenced the “Code of Chivalry”, which was a mannerism only a man could acquire and practice. Ironically, “renaissance” means “rebirth”, but for women during this period, there was not much development or revival in their limited societal roles.