Pastoral Poetry, By Terry Gifford

This is precisely the life of individuals in pastoral societies where food is obtained by raising and taking care of domesticated animals.

I feel the static of the microphone hiss as my words project onto the stage; the cord of the mic is coiled around my left ankle, like a snake feeding on its prey. Adrenaline is rushing through my veins as poetry bursts out from my lungs; my words are louder than a bomb. Louder Than a bomb is the world’s largest youth poetry competition and it is the place where found the true meaning of diversity. The moment I set foot on stage is when I became aware of a strong community full of writers from different backgrounds. Rachel Smith’s Poem “Hallelujah, the Saviors are Here” gives a taste of LTAB while addressing issues around her community. By sharing individual experiences, communities are brought together and strengthened; however, these communities

“Journeys allow travelers to reflect on their own experiences because of new knowledge gained and greater insight into themselves and the world around them.”

Linda Thomas and Joan Didion are both natives of Southern California and wrote about the Santa Ana, a wind that blows from northeast to Southern California every year. Didion, the author of The Santa Ana, mostly writes about the area where she was born in 1934. Thomas, the author of Brush Fire, was also born in Southern California. She has been writing poems, stories and essays for 25 years. Her writing has appeared in numerous print journals like American Poetry Review.

Religious spaces, characterized by Thomas Tweed, are “differentiated,” “interrelated,” and “kinetic.” As a sacred city with spiritual significance in three major religions, Jerusalem is depicted thoroughly in the Hebrew Bible and illustrated as one of the spaces Tweed defines. The Bible emphasizes that Jerusalem was chosen by God and honored by Israelites, which differentiates it as a special, singular space; the description of Solomon’s Temple shows that the Holy City was interrelated to economic power and involved in the judgment of civil cases. Moreover, the conquest, development and destruction of Jerusalem illustrate the city as a kinetic space, reflecting the unsettled history of the Iron Age. These characteristics all make Jerusalem a religious and political center from the ancient Near East time to present day, guiding the footsteps of believers around the world.

Throughout history the unique and changeable Australian landscape has inspired a diverse array of artistic responses. Impressios of its power and beauty, expressions of individuals' responses, symbolic religious orientation, the range of landscape art works extends onwards. A great example of the vast variations of styles can be seen in the artworks of Glover, Drysdale, Berkowitz and Reid.

In chapter 5 of Mavericks, From Space to Territory Aritha van Herk writes about the West and its romantic appeal along with different men who were given the task of surveying and exploring the West where upon in turn they became captivated by its romantic appeal. In her writings about these men, and the West that they were tasked with “discovering”, there is a connection to regionalism, landscape and subsequently Plains identity. Regionalism refers to the unique characteristics of a geographic area, or to people’s perception and identification of that area. Landscape refers to that geographic area’s features that help form the characteristic qualities of a people in the region. Landscape also dictates how a region will develop over time. Plains identity follows as it is formed by regionalism and landscape. These three concepts can be found in van Herk’s writings in this chapter as she analyzes how people perceived the West.

In the poem, “Migrant Woman on a Melbourne Tram,” Jennifer Strauss provides an insight into the life of a foreign woman who struggles to conform to the new society which envelops her. Through the use of a variety of language techniques, Strauss highlights the difficulties and challenges faced by her subject, as she attempts to integrate into Melbourne society. Strauss’ reference to the woman’s attire being “impossibly black,” in the opening line of the poem highlights her distinct feature as a foreigner, which ultimately causes her to stand out amongst the crowd. This statement which is further juxtaposed with the sexualised nature of the “impudence of summer thighs, long arms and painted toenails,” puts emphasis on the two contrasting cultures

Jim Daniels may not write poetry as eloquently as one would expect, but his style matches the subject matter he writes about perfectly. Indeed, it is this unrefined colloquial style, which allows Mr. Daniels to capture the essence of working class Detroit and relay it to the reader. His words may be somewhat coarse and he does not hesitate to use profanity, but one is still able to find beauty in his writing. The same can be said about the working class society, in which Jim Daniels was born and raised.

Rosemary Dobson's Poetry "Rosemary Dobson seems intent on presenting a view of life as bleak and generally uninteresting In the poems by Rosemary Dobson it generally presents the view of life as bleak. " The Tiger" is an example of this. This also reinforces the limitations on her poetic inspirations. The idea is presented by the effective use of imagery, tone, sound devices and the temporary progression.

9. The Pasture/Field – The pasture represents a simple farming life that is predictable and calm. Often referred to as a pastoral setting, many characters either begin

One of the principle tenets of the pastoral tradition is the ardently expressed admiration for the unique skills, knowledge and backbreaking labor required by

Shaped by ideological discourse, landscapes can also be understood as texts susceptible to analysis by means similar to those in which literary and other texts are analysed. Poetry, prose, painting and film represent landscapes in different textual forms. The eye of each writer, painter or filmmaker selects and frames images in a singular way. Their views can become part of a society' s image of itself, as they are reproduced or influence others. The paintings of Heysen, Drysdale, Nolan, and the Indigenous artists of the Western Desert and the Hermannsburg school have all interpreted the arid inland of Australia. Their images have become part of the national myth of the Outback and have themselves influenced the way that others see that space. In a similar way, different social groups and individuals will look at the same place through different eyes, and perceive its meaning in different ways. [Rick Hosking to add something about landscape and writing here] Indigenous people, European explorers, missionaries, pastoralists, international and domestic travellers all looked or look at similar landscapes and experience different versions of

Claude Lorrain’s Pastoral Landscape with the Ponte-Molle portrays this message by his elegant portrayal of the landscape.

Terry Gifford-a prominent literary theorist, defines pastoral in three ways in his critical book Pastoral:-