Poetry Intertextual Term paper
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The anthology “Lines to Time” includes a wide range of poems written by a selection of poets. What makes “Line to Time” interesting and enjoyable to read is the variety of topic and treatment the poets use to make their poetry effective.
The range of poets featured in “Lines to Time” use a variety of poetic devices and writer’s techniques such as symbolism, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia, tone, metaphors and humour, to effectively construct an evocative poem.
Symbolism and imagery plays a large role in Gwen Harwood’s poems “Suburban Sonnet”, “ Suburban Sonnet: Boxing Day” and “Father and Child”.
“Suburban Sonnet” tackles the issue of the harshness of motherhood. Harwood creates the image that the woman in the poem has sacrificed her dreams and aspirations, to become a mother figure for her children. This image is portrayed through Harwood’s contrasting ideas that the way she moves around the kitchen is similar to the complex composition of a fugue. “She practices a fugue, though it can matter to no one now if she lays well or not.”
Symbolism and imagery help Harwood to achieve the poem’s purpose in creating a sympathetic tone towards the woman’s struggle. The use of rhyming couplets and irregular short sentences create a hectic and disorganised structure and rhythm to the poem, which symbolises the mother’s life. Harwood uses emotive description and olfactory imagery to allow the audience to experience exactly what the woman is feeling. “A pot boils over. As she rushes to the stove too late, a wave of nausea overpowers” Harwood creates the image of a pot of milk boiling over and a horrible odour dispersing from it. The use of olfactory imagery presents the audience with a common smell recognised as a disgusting stench, forcing the audience to feel empathy towards the poor woman.
The mouse caught in the trap is symbolic of her dreams and hopes that are crushed and demolished when she made a sacrifice for the sake of her family. The mouse is symbolic of the mother, who is stuck in a trap and is unable to break free. Harwood uses this symbolism to express the major thematic concern, that she has become a slave to her family.
“Suburban Sonnet” is a very bitter and melancholic poem, and is told from the author’s point of view, creating the sense that maybe the woman in the sonnet could be the poet herself.
Harwood continues with her style of poetic expression and tone with her poem “Suburban Sonnet: Boxing Day” to create a heartbroken and sorrowful poem. Similar to the mother figure in “Suburban Sonnet”, the mother featured in “Suburban Sonnet: Boxing Day” is portrayed as trapped and depressed by what she has allowed herself to reduced to in order to keep structure in her family.
“Suburban Sonnet: Boxing Day” is told in a romantic register of language and explores a woman’s suburban life as a mother and a broken-hearted wife. Harwood continues with her strong use of symbolism and imagery throughout this poem, to stimulate a vivid visual image in the audience’s mind.
“Gold, silver, pink and blue, the globes distort her, framed in the doorway: woman with a broom.” Harwood creates the impression that the woman is depressed and tired of the life she leads. Standing in the doorway holding a broom in her arms portrays the woman like a maid, which is left to clean up the aftermath of Christmas.
Harwood uses the image of “wrappings and toys lie scattered round the room”, as it is a common scene, which the audience can relate to. Harwood portrays the Christmas wrapping as a symbol of her hopes, which have been torn apart by her family.
Ironically, the Christmas period is a symbol for togetherness and is a family occasion. Harwood uses this to specify the harsh reality that this woman is experiencing. Portraying her as alone and depressed during the festive season.
The “glossy magazine the children bought her” is an impersonal and hollow present that shows how ungrateful and ignorant her family is towards her. Harwood creates this impression to emphasis on the mother’s pain and anguish towards her situation.
By creating the symbolic action of “a child (stretching) above her and, laughing, crowns her with a tinsel wreath” Harwood is portraying the mother as a martyr figure. Harwood uses this symbolism to make a contrast with Christ, implying she is a strong leader of her family.
Harwood uses the last line to make the final point that once again the mother is left to clean up the mess. “She gathers up a new, dismembered toy”. This is symbolic and portrays her as the one who is always putting things back together, regardless that it is Christmas.
Gwen Harwood’s poem “Father and child” is different from her sonnets as it is told in a narrative style. It tells the story of a young child whose journey from total innocence to the brutal death of an innocent owl, is the major thematic concern.
Harwood crafted the poem in the point of view of the child as it allows the audience to look into the child’s thought and emotions. When the child says, “Let him dream of a child obedient, angle-mild” Harwood is clearly stating that the child is going against his father’s orders. The mischievous tone creates the impression that the child is enjoying the thrill of its rebellious acts. As the child is aware that while its father is “robbed of power by sleep”, he is the one in control.
Harwood uses visual and olfactory imagery to make the hunt of the owl effective and realistic. “I stood holding my breath, in urine-scented hay” the use of olfactory imagery allows the audience to visualise the smell of the old barn, and feel as thought they are standing beside the child. “Beating his only wing, as I watched, afraid” Harwood uses the powerful imagery of the dying owl, to emphasise the child’s shock and disbelief of death. The child’s frightened state illustrates to the audience that he had no previous understanding of his actions and the result it may have, “a lonely child who believed death clean and final”.
Harwood uses strong descriptive language to portray the pain of the owl and the cruelty the child has began. “Bundle of stuff that dropped, and dribbled through the loose straw tangling in bowels, and hopped blindly closer”. Harwood creates a saddened tone to make the audience feel sympathetic towards the young child, dismayed by its own actions and compassionate towards the abused owl.
“Owl blind in the early sun”. The symbolic description of the owl allows the audience to make a contrast between the owl and the child. The owl that is regarded as old and wise is compared to the youthful child who is eager for exploration and lacks wisdom.
The conclusion of the poem states “for what I have begun”, suggesting to the audience the child has lost their innocence and father’s trust, beginning something which cannot be reversed.
Similar to Harwood’s use of symbolism and imagery in her poetry, is David Campbell’s...
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