(no subject)
Points made within this weeks discussion:
Charles Harpur’s “Midsummer Noon in an Australian Forest” is permeated by an immense focus on light. Portrayed as, “noon’s scorching eye.” However, this image is paralleled with a feeling of space conveyed through planes of land and sky “grassy cool recess”, Harpur suggests that it is these qualities of the Australian landscape which portray its true beauty “musing thus of quietness.” The way he illustrates everything he uses intricate descriptions with a peaceful and serene sound, “over plains and over woods, what I mighty stillness broods” making the reader want to get out there and explore the beautiful nature for themselves. Like Harpur, Kendall also explores the Australian landscape however, his descriptions of the landscape are more subjective, and lack the perception of space and vastness present in Harpur instead Kendall focus on the fullness of the Australian landscape “deep mountain valleys… with glimpses of creeks and a vision of mosses”. His versus create a quick lyrical pace, exploring instead the loudness and fullness of landscape “mixt with the sights and the sounds f the wildwood” through the “silver voiced blue-birds”
Charles Harpur’s “Midsummer Noon in an Australian Forest” explores the Australian landscape by paying attention to the quality of light in all its variations “in noon’s scorching eye”. The quality of light presented in the Australian landscape provides not only a strong sense of lucidity and luminosity but when it is compared with subtle allusions to colour such as “yellow on a tawny ground” Harpur is able to encourage readers to view the simplest of objects in a different light portraying their true beauty. Harpur uses factual descriptions as opposed to physical descriptions creating an impartial sense of the landscape, thus bringing forth a sense of excitement and a sense of vitality. Kendall on the other hand uses physical descriptions creating a subjective illustration of the Australian landscape a view which is influenced by his personal experience with the landscape; it is a personal reflection of his deep appreciation of Australia “I often sit looking back to a childhood …”
Dunlop “the Aboriginal Mother” focuses on a surviving mother and child and her struggle for protection. The poem is centred on a mother’s grief over the loss of her loved ones “the echoes of my homeless heart” and her fear about her child’s protection “for thy young life … my precious”. It is important to note that Dunlop is a woman herself. During the nineteenth century, and central to Victorian ideology was the figure of the mother and her setting within the family[1]. The fact that Dunlop is a women poet, she is really able to understand the Aboriginal woman’s experience from the inside. Dunlop is able to identify with the aboriginal mother and her struggle to protect her child “mother’s torture feel”. Thus Dunlop is successfully able to convey to the reader the women’s experience as she is able to put herself into the shoes of the Aboriginal woman. As motherhood, is central to the ideology of the nineteenth century[2]. If any women were to suffer form the tragic lose of a loved one they too would be able to empathise with the Aboriginal mother.
However, Henry Lawson’s story “The Drovers Wife” lacks a depth of understanding that Dunlop is able to achieve in her poem. Lawson is unable to convey the women’s inner experience. The wife in the story is left alone with the children for long periods of time “she once lived like this for eighteen months”, meaning that she on numerous occasions assumes the role of the man, fighting the dangers of the bush, protecting her children “she fought a flood, stood in a downpour, dug an overflow gutter…. during her husbands absence”. Unlike in Dunlop’s poem where the woman is forced into protection, the wife in Lawson’s story must protect her children because her husband is away by choice “the drover is away, with the sheep. His wife and children are left here alone” Thus Lawson’s illustration of the wife is influenced by a man, resulting in a masculine portrayal lacking a depth of women experience.
Themes of loss and expressions of grief pervade Lawson’s ‘Drifted Back’ and Gordon’s ‘Sick Stockrider’ which in turn causes a sense of nostalgia to set in. Lawson’s ‘Drifted Back’ presents a stranger who returns home only to find he is no longer familiar with his surroundings “things is changed”. People have moved on or have died, causing a form of nostalgia to set in evident through his dialogue when he no longer knows anyone in the town “there is nothing to keep me here”. However, Gordon’s ‘Sick Stockrider’ portrays a dying bush man who looks back on his life recalling his adventures within the bush, He is reflecting on his life just, as is Lawson’s ‘Stranger’ as things in the present 1800’s are no longer the same as what they used to be. Both characters look back to an experience of life and of values which are now missing in the 1800s, they believe they are the last of their kind, the bush is no longer filled with true bush-folk “our ancient boon companions.. are gone”, as now the essence of the past exists only in their memories “come back to us”.