Monday, May 25, 2009
Nature as metaphor in Harwood's poetry
In the two poems we read today (Estuary and An Impromtu for Ann Jennings) nature plays a significant symbolic or metaphorical role. Comment on Harwood's use of nature in one of the poems. You should write about the quality of Harwood's descriptions of nature as well as what nature represents in the context of the poem.
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I believe that nature does play an important symbolic and metaphorical role in the two poems. However, I think it also has other significant roles which it fulfils. Most importantly I believe it is vital in the way it evokes emotion and feeling within the pieces of work. The poem ‘Estuary’ has a certain mood and quality about it, which is essentially evoked by the use of describing the nature of the estuary itself. This poem is one which talks of the past the present and the future, about the memories of childhood and the reality and acceptance of death. The nature of the estuary, I believe, is used to represent life. It is depicted as rough and wild, beautiful and mysterious, busy yet peaceful, always flowing and ever changing. I wouldn’t say that nature in this poem is symbolic, in the sense that descriptions of it are always suggestive of some other abstract meaning. It is more that the nature mixes and weaves with the story being told. This poem has a rhythm which leads us through it, in an ever flowing way. There is no separation, for example, between the words and memories of the writer and the nature of the Estuary. All is one. I think this is hugely symbolic of Harwood’s fascination and acceptance of death, which shows through in much of her work. The belief that, when death comes to a person, they become a part of everything. That when someone accepts death, as in this poem, they finally see the world as whole and natural. This, I think, is the relevance nature plays in this poem.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Harwood’s use of nature to portray a symbolic or metaphorical meaning is clearly evident in many of her poems, particularly ‘Estuary’ and ‘An Impromptu for Ann Jennings’. Her depiction of imagery within nature is extremely emotive and resonate a deep spiritual connection between humans and the world around them. Harwood drew a great amount of inspiration from the beauty of her surroundings, particularly from places she recounted from her childhood and from defining moments in her life. In the poem ‘Estuary’ she describes the cycle of life and a transition from the mortal world to the next. The first stanza establishes our setting, recounting the wild and passionate yet comforting aspects of the estuary itself. Here she uses great symbolic description to breathe liveliness and movement into the nature that surrounds her. Effectively this allows the estuary a life of its own, one of which she seems deeply emotionally connected to. As she was a keen musician she implements pieces of herself into its description, relating musical elements to the melodic sounds of the wind and a crooked wire fence resembling the staves and bar lines of musical notation. Overall the nature is significantly reflective of human life, describing it in terms of light, movement, sound, colour and even season. Harwood continues to relate a place budding with the freshness brought by spring to that of her young children playing on the sand. This largely contrasts her grandmother who finds herself in a place of growing darkness. As she leaves the worldly elements of nature she transitions from the gloom at the end of her mortal life to the clarity and wholeness of the after-life. Here we can observe the clear connection between the liveliness of nature and that of our existence on Earth.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion nature plays a large metaphorical and symbolic role through out the 'Estuary' and 'An Impromptu for Anne Jennings'. Gwen Harwood uses this naturalist language to create majestic and nostalgic feelings through out her works reflecting on life and the past. Harwood uses descriptive methods to draw out different qualities within the poems, for example the 'Estuary' is heavily engaged with nature, and whiles reading the poem a dream like quality is developed with cleaver use of the melding of the past and the present. Harwood makes use of naturalistic language to create a sense of transition through life, and again including the transcendental of the every day. This piece flows comfortably from like to like with an elegant rhythm throughout, creating a serene and peaceful mood. I believe the Harwood's interest and fascination with death and the after life is extremely present through out these poems, the woman in the 'Estuary' finds herself faced with death, she embraces and accepts it realizing that when someone or something or dies, it then becomes apart of everything, and the darkness experienced then becomes clear, and life then had clarity and is renewed.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Julian's blog entry had some very valid points, and some other that were not discussed in class. He explains that the way Harwood has incorporated naturalistic language into her poems give her works a life of their own. I thought this was a very interesting point as he focuses heavily on the spiritual side of her works. He also makes the connection with Harwood and the characters within poems, relating back to her musical background and the description of the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Julian's entry as he looked much deeper into ideas that were discussed during class.
ReplyDeleteHarwoods poems 'An Impromptu for Ann Jennings' and 'Estuary' are full of analogies and metaphors. in 'Estuary' using poetic and visual language she represents nature and aligns it with a spiritual metaphor. Harwood portrays the journey of her own life in a series of evocative analogies to nature. in lines such as "far from here, lying close to the final darkness" she makes reference to her journeys end. the poem sparkles with imagery and uplifting emotive language taking the reader into Harwoods astral world. Harwood uses the human anatomy effectively to lure the reader close to the human psyche "paddocks rest in the seas arm" "over the skeleton of thought mind builds a skin of human texture" "the eyes part of another eye" the use of this anatomical reference provides the reader with a dimension of human emotion and uses it as a vehicle to transport via the metaphorical phrases. the poem in essence comments of life's cycle and leaves us with a sense of renewal and cyclic return.
ReplyDeletemine looks really short but its 170 words.
ReplyDeletein Sheridan's blog she comments on the relationship between nature and the human spirit. i believe that the point that she has missed is that we are in fact a part of human nature, not distinct nor separate. we may have the ability to reason and have creative thought, but in the end thoughts fly away on the wind when we are returned back to the soil. Sheridan could have explored in a bit more detail examples of the metaphors she describes and how they evoke a response from the reader.
ReplyDeleteThere was one thing that Tallulah spoke of in her post that I thought was very interesting; something of which I wish I had emphasized more in my own. The use of human anatomy in her descriptive language is something that further aligns the human spirit or liveliness to that of nature. The line you used in which Harwood describes the paddocks resting in the seas arms, is especially engaging and sets an air of comfort and harmony. I really think everyone who has posted so far has greatly achieved in describing the elements to which nature plays a metaphorical role in Estuary, but I hope some of the others take the less obvious option of commenting on An Impromptu for Anne Jennings. I particularly like the way the mountain that Harwood and Anne climb in the book is symbolic of personal achievement. As they climb that mountain they rise to the peak of fulfillment in their lives, something of which is not solely defined by motherhood.
ReplyDeleteHarwood's use of memory within her poems is highly evident in both ‘Estuary’ and ‘An Impromtu for Anne Jennings.’ Harwood uses both memory and dream as aspects of the same central idea, a sort of memorialistic imagination. Her use of memory or dream in her poetry gives another dimension to her poetry, in that one is not simply dreaming or thinking of things passed and remembering them as they were with conscious knowledge of the present situation, but rather experiencing that sensation or event as if it were the first time. Through her vivid descriptions of her surrounding environment ‘nature’ becomes a driving force to both of these works. For example in “An Impromptu for Ann Jennings.’ Harwood immerses us into a world not only of the life of the intellect and the imagination, but also in the delights and frustrations of the daily social life where the wilderness of the Tasmanian environment becomes a backdrop. Suggesting a deep connection between Harwood’s domestic life and the surrounding environment. The wilderness in a way, is the ‘bigger’ picture in most of her work. Where her life is centralized around this one recurring theme of nature. An example of this is in ‘An Impromtu for Anne Jennings’ where her constant referrals, remind us of the ‘bigger picture’. Harwood’s life coincided with the environment reflecting profoundly on her work. Harwood was able to depict nature at its most ideal, using its richness to inspire and ignite her writing.
ReplyDeleteNature most certainly plays a significant symbolic and metaphorical role in the poems ‘Estuary’ and ‘An impromptu for Ann Jennings’. Harwood’s engagement with nature and the natural world derive from her own personal memories and experiences evoking a heavily symbolic reference to her personal life and relationship with nature and spirituality. The poem Estuary is essentially about the transitioning of life and death, contrasting the two states by the use of strong emotive and descriptive language. In my opinion, each stanza through its use of nature evokes the stages of existence from the beginning to the end, representing the sequence of life, death and final acceptance. Harwood incorporates her characteristic reference to music to evoke tranquility and peacefulness. Her vibrant descriptions and evocative linguistics suggest vivid imagery and feelings within the reader, which relate to the overall mood of the piece. The use of nature enables Harwood to share her view of life and the world, which in the end, vagueness embraces reality.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Julian on the effectiveness of Tallulah's reference to the human anatomy.I think i would have liked to have made reference to this also, in order to support my point that Harwood paints the picture of nature being at one with sentient beings. The sections which Tallulah chose to support her point were well chosen. I thought it worked well that she made direct quotes and then proceeded to explain their relevance. However I personally felt that they were also very relevant to the point of the Estuary and human life having natural likenesses. Although the lines of the poem do help the reader to indentify with the human psyche, they also help to understand the land as, in a sense, 'living' and almost 'feeling.'This is what I understood from the particular lines such as "Paddocks rest in the seas arms" However this is only my personal understanding, and your point was just as valid.
ReplyDeletei did my blog again because it the start didnt make sense..
ReplyDeleteThrough her vivid descriptions in both Estuary and An Impromtu for Ann Jennning, the environment ‘nature’ becomes a driving force to both of these works. For example in “An Impromptu for Ann Jennings.’ Harwood immerses us into a world not only of the life of the intellect and the imagination, but also in the delights and frustrations of the daily social life where the wilderness of the Tasmanian environment becomes a backdrop. Suggesting a deep connection between Harwood’s domestic life and the surrounding environment. The wilderness in a way, is the ‘bigger’ picture in most of her work. Where her life is centralized around this one recurring theme. An example of this is in ‘An Impromtu for Anne Jennings’ where her constant referrals, remind us of the ‘bigger picture’. Harwood’s life coincided with the environment reflecting profoundly on her work, in a way this referral shows Harwood’s inspiration for most of her writing, her domestic life coincided along with this external force (being nature) as an almost spiritual connection arises between herself and the world of the transcendence. The relationship between the domestic and the natural world can be blissful, as shown in works such as ‘Estuary’ and ‘An Impromtu for Ann Jennings’. Harwood was able to depict nature at its most ideal, using its richness to inspire and ignite her writing.
Zsa Zsa, I enjoyed reading your blog. Estuary is a poem mostly concerned with the transitioning of life and death and through vivid descriptions Harwood has grasped the essence of this transition introducing ideas of nature seemingly capturing transcendence, in blissful, peaceful depictions. Through incorporating music, the mood of tranquility arises. This passing from life to death becomes a peaceful journey in which Harwood ensures the reader becomes amerced in the realms of nature and transcendence. This is extremely relevant to Harwood’s own personal connection between herself and nature, which we are able to see becomes a vocal point of expression. Yet, nature in Harwood’s eyes becomes somewhat spiritual. It is not just picturesquely beautiful, it is a metaphor for deeper concepts almost a bridge between the physical world and the spiritual, transcendental world. Explored in Estuary as life and death. All of your blog was a captivating read Zsa Zsa, yet I a little confused by what you meant by ‘vagueness embraces reality’ was this a reference to Estuary or to all of Harwood’s work? As I am not entirely sure if I agree with this statement. But all in all a good piece.
ReplyDeleteok jason so if you look 4 posts above i DID post a blog a while ago!
ReplyDeletealthough my response didn't seem to get posted and i definitely responded to this one...?
i guess i'll have to respond again.
I thoroughly enjoyed Stella’s latest post and the points in which she put fourth. I strongly agree with her statement that ‘wilderness…is the bigger picture’ in much of Harwood’s work. Harwood’s poems almost always incorporate an element of nature, whether it be through setting or a metaphor to convey a deeper meaning. Nature and the wilderness are incorporated in a not so obvious manner, on a much deeper philosophical level, leaving Harwood’s poetry open to a range of personal interpretations. A certain point in Stella’s response in which I found particularly inspiring was her idea of Harwood possessing an almost ‘spiritual connection’ that occurs between herself as an individual and the world of the transcendence. The idea of ‘nature’ and ‘wilderness’ acting as a higher external force brings fourth Harwood’s strong connection with the environment and the inspiration in which it distinctly and heavily evokes. This is evident and the basis for many of her poems, particularly throughout ‘An impromptu for Ann Jennings’ and ‘Estuary’, where as Stella has mentioned, we are presented with the blissful connection between the domestic and natural world. Stellas response enhanced my understanding of Harwood’s relationship with nature and contributed and built on the ideas I had previously possessed. :)
ReplyDeletethese are very well said, now i have a broader understanding of "Estuary" thank you everyone
ReplyDeletefor engaging in this topic.
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ReplyDeletewhats a metaphore?...
ReplyDeleteI think that in 'Estuary' the speaker is exploring the value of her own personal relationship with 'Rex' whom is the subject of the poem. The line "Paddocks rest in the sea's arm" metaphorically juxtaposes with the speaker's literal relationship with the subject of the poem; by seemingly making distinct the idea that they are there for 'Rex'- showing their support through the common image pertaining "a friend being able to cry on their friends shoulder" or on their arm as demonstrated in this line.
ReplyDeleteThe speakers references to nature throughout 'Estuary' depicts nature as a universal and overpowering force, and the line "A wire fence leans... sticks for barlines, wind for song" demonstrates that nature is the only barrier in life: it is the only thing that stops us from living forever and achieving the impossible.
Gwen Harwood explores particularly the idea that memory is the only permanence possible, "Look. Remember this".
She also represents the continual process of life "spring's new radiance" "children run in the wind" etc. which demonstrates the passing of time and the idea that the world is forever changing. Friendships help to create renewal and stability emotionally and psychologically.
By the way... person above ^ a methaphor is a figure of speech where a direct comparison is made between two stimuli, without using the words 'like' or 'as'.
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