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HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 1 of 29
Thesis:
People and landscapes influence one another through renewed perceptions and ideas of the
world around
Through various representations of the relationship between people and landscapes we are
shown that landscapes have the ability to alter ones perception
These pieces of poetry show a representation of the relationship between how forms
influence and shape meaning. They shift ones view of themselves and alter perception of
the world around them and have the ability to alter ones view
Thesis:
Representation is influential
Has potential to alter perception
The interaction with the landscape is profound, life changing, far-reaching, inspiring,
confronting
Quintessential (defines them and shapes their lives)
Crucial, Pivotal
Elemental
Significant
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 2 of 29
POINT EVIDENCE TECHNIQUE EFFECT
Hawthorn Hedge:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
The landscape can
consume and
dominate an individual
She will hide away
if you wave your
hand or call,
She will not see
Imperative tone
High Modality
Anaphora
This determines the strong
character of the woman
Highlighting her as a central
character
There has been
pastoral expansion by
people into the natural
landscape
The Hawthorn
Hedge
Alliteration There is a sense of invasive
species as the hawthorn hedge is
not natural
The land is seen as a
character not just a
location
Hungry ridge Personification The use of the word hungry
implies an ongoing feeling of
domination
The use of the word hungry
makes the land seem alive
The landscape may be
both harsh and
nourishing
That thorn, that
green, that snow
Juxtaposition
Epistrophe
Thorn is the protective weapon of
the hedge, and snow is the white
flowers
- Passing of the seasons
These ambiguous or dichotomous
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 3 of 29
divided qualities of landscape
demonstrate both the author and
the personas conflicting views
The landscape can be
perceived as both
harsh and nourishing
No one is here Truncated
Sentence
This represents the personas
voice
The landscape can be
perceived as both
harsh and nourishing
Shouting in winter
“death” and when
the white bud sets,
more loudly “life”
Irony
Juxtaposition
Dialogue
The landscape can be harsh as it is
deathly in winter, and nourishing,
as it is like life in summer
An individual can use
the landscape to create
a barrier between
themselves and the
wider world
It is twice as tall as
the rider on the tall
mare
Hyperbole Represents how impassable and
dominant the barrier is
Woman is feeling secure in the
knowledge that her barrier is tall
so that other people cannot come
in or peer in
The landscape reflects
the cycle of life
Bee-hung blossom Alliteration
Imagery
The bee is heavy with life and
possibility
- Individuals choose to
let themselves go wild,
like landscapes
- Individuals are
inextricably linked to
landscapes
Unkempt as an old
tree
Simile She chooses to live there, there is
an assumption she is mad
She is being made through the
use of images into the landscape
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 4 of 29
An individual’s
perception of a
landscape can change
at any time
Hawthorn hedge
took root, grew
wild and high to
hide behind
Positive
connotations
White colonial pastoralists hiding
behind and denying their
consequences of invasion
however
nature wins overall and is
dominating
The landscape is sharp,
hard and cold
reflecting the
perception of the
woman by the
outsiders
Wind turns her
grindstone heart
Symbolism
Personification
The wind sharpens itself as it is
becoming winter
Landscape has the
capacity to take their
identity
She will not see Anonymity
Third Person
She is unnamed
She is hiding to avoid being seen
as well as not seeing outside
People may choose to
isolate themselves
inside a landscape
Let him stare, no
one is here
Rhyme The hedge is so tall no one can
see in
She has become
introverted over time
and had an attitude
change due to the
landscape
Took root, grew
wild and high to
hide behind
Assonance Wildness of the trees and the size
of the hedge
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 5 of 29
A hawthorn hedge is a common green hedge with leaves of about three centimetres
and small white flowers. It grows tall and thick and is usually opaque
It’s a poem about isolation and building walls as barriers from the world. The wall is
a hedge, ‘planted’ by the person being described in the poem
This poem uses the device of symbolism to represent this person’s attitude to the
outside world by making a protective barrier for herself. The effect of this symbolism is to
have the reader understand how uncomfortable the person is with human contact. The
symbolism is such that we can read the poem as conveying two meaning at once: one
physical and one psychological. Both reveal the person relationship with the landscape
She forgets how long ago it was that she planted the hawthorn hedge. The
significant thing here is that she admits that it was she who planted it so strong and thick
and protective.
Psychologically, it is vital that she planted the hedge as this shows a deliberate desire
to be blocked off from human contact. – She does not even remember when it was no there
At the psychological level, this tells us that she has been isolated for a long time
The hedge is her barrier from the world and it has grown out of control. She cannot
go back. She is lost to the world. The woman in the poem has a close protective relationship
with the landscape
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 6 of 29
Train Journey - 1953:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
Landscapes can be
unknown and scary
Confused
hammering dark of
the train
Onomatopoeia Ignorance, confusion, lack of
empathy and understanding of
her surroundings
Sound of the train – ‘hammering’
because it is loud and repeated
‘confused’ because the moon,
the glass, the dark and the
hammering are mixed to her
senses
Land being maternal.
This contains labour like
imagery
Your delicate dry
breasts, country
that built my heart
Clench, break,
draw, be
Personification
Alliterative
Verbs
Intimate, romantic notion
Landscape is the creator of the
poets heart – product of
landscape, such is a baby the
product of her mother
Power of the landscape Clench down your
strength
Break with your
violent root the
virgin rock
Imperative tone
Personification
Assonance
The landscape has been
untouched by humans – Nature
effecting nature
Someone is observing
the landscape rather
than being a part of it
Be over… skin of
sense… slender
dance
Personification
Allusion
Suggesting strength of
imagination over the rational –
alluding to metaphysical power
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 7 of 29
of the landscape to enrich and
nourish bring the land back to
where it should be – emotional
to the foreground
Out of maternal labour
like image comes
beauty
I woke up and saw
the dark small
trees that burn
suddenly into
flowers more
lovely than the
white moon
Evocative Imagery What seemed barren, the
landscape, was not
Landscapes can be
unknown and scary
The Moons cold
sheet
Metaphor Sheet suggesting a covering,
protective
The landscape which is
represented by natural
objects, can be
represented by words
as well and that words
which seem small and
dry and delicate can be
capable of producing
power and passion in
the same way as the
natural objects in the
landscape
Like poetry moved,
articulate and
sharp
Simile Suggests that the trees evoke for
her, in her half sleep, some of the
qualities of poetry ‘articulate and
sharp’
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 8 of 29
Brothers and Sisters:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
The land is too wild
to be able to
control
Cul-de-sac Metaphor For the aspirations of white Australians
in the hope to conquer the wilderness
but this opportunity is cut short by
their inability to inhabit the land
Wright uses contrast to introduce the
disappointment they are feeling
The word road is contrasted with cul-
de-sac – does not go anywhere
They reached a
dead end
Stopped like a lost
intention at the
game
Simile Hopes and dreams lost
Natural landscapes
is winning
Saplings sprouted
slyly
Alliteration Distrust of the landscape by the
settlers
The settlers
conquered the
land and made it
their own
Gate… fence Symbolism They have created a self-imposed
barrier of a fence. The white
pastoralists bought with them the
ideas of gates and fences
Land continued to
grow, even if the
settlers didn’t want
it too
Years grew like
grass and leaves
Metaphor Inevitable passing of time
Deliberate mixing of images
Grew implies the development and
change of the landscape
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 9 of 29
Nature is
developing but the
people are not
Sometimes
individuals fail in
their attempt to
control the
landscape and
instead become a
part of the
landscape
Bush moved one
step nearer,
wondering when
Lucy shrivels,
waiting for a word
Personification
Nature imagery
applied to a
person
Represents the dominance and
impassable nature of the environment
Nature will overrun them in the end –
it will drive them out
Time is inevitable
Settlers have no
more control of
time than they do
over the bush
Wound the gilt
clock that leaked
the year away
Metaphor For the impassable and consuming
nature of time and aging
Water is escaping – It is running away
from them – Time is no useful
Environment will
overall consume
the people and
belongings
The bush comes
near, the ranges
grow immense
They knew the
plans were lost,
the blue-print for
the bridge was out
of date, and now
their orchards
Descriptive
language
There is recognition of the failure of
the peoples plans
They had plans and dreams which
were all swallowed up by the
relentless nature of the landscape –
they haven’t been able to subdue
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 10 of 29
never would be
planted
Individuals can feel
a very pervasive
sense of
dissolution when
they’re unable to
control landscape
“Millie, are you
awake?”
“Oh John, I have
been dreaming”
“Lucy, do you cry?”
Dialogue Involves the audience and increases
veracity
Individuals fail to
control their
surroundings
The polished
parlour grew
distant and
haunted
Alliteration They live in a house
Environment is
dominating
There is nothing to
be afraid of.
Nothing at all
Lucy shrivels
Truncated
sentences
Irony
Nothing is the source of fear
Environment will swallow up their
house
Afraid of death
A tenuous grasp as they are afraid
their colonial existence will escape and
Australia will return to its original
landscape
The ‘nothing’ is what they fear
In the poem brothers and sisters, it is the land or landscape which is active and the
people who are passive, the land grows, changes and develops, while the people wait and
grow old
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 11 of 29
Personification is used the make the bush into a character in the poem, in fact a
threatening, invasive character. The land belongs to nature, and nature will take it back in
the end. Wright shows no particular sympathy for the settlers, in fact she depicts them as
foolish and weak. Nature will have what is its own
The three inhabitants of this property, the brother John and the sister Mily and Lucy
are living in an environment which is not naturally theirs and to which they do not really
belong
Through this poem, Judith Wright shows what it’s like to live in an alien landscape,
which is so different from a landscape which is part of one’s blood. The opening image the
road turned out to be a “cul-de-sac; stopped like a lost intention at the gate” sets the tone
of the poem. The inhabitants have reached the dead end and have forgotten what they
intended to do
This image is built on with other words suggesting an unfinished structure “the plans
were lost, the blueprint for the bridge is out of date”, the road is “half erased” and its
appearance “is dubious”. The orchard was never planted, and instead the native trees are
getting ready to overtake the land. These native trees are personified, their actions being
seen as sly and “day by day the bush moved one step nearer”
There is an accumulation of detail to create an image of the foreign European or
English way of life that the inhabitants of the house wanted to impose on the Australian
bush. The “polished parlour” lost its sheen and the guilt clock only serves to “leek the year
away”, a metaphor for their wasted lived. The “pianola”, mocked by native birds, “wavers
on Sundays and has lost a note”
Introduced flowers are eaten by the sheep, and Lucy and Milly “shrivel”, seen by the
way “Milly’s camios loosen around her throat”
Not only are the people affected by remaining strangers in the landscape in which
they live, the house itself is personified as “droning in the night”, and with each groan it
“settles more arid”. They cannot sleep, Wright compares their thoughts to moths, and they
question each other but can provide no real comfort. There is something ambiguous in the
conclusion of the poem, “there’s nothing to be afraid of, nothing at all”, because it is
precisely the nothing, the obliteration of their life, which is the thing that they fear most of
them all
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 12 of 29
Moving South:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
Confidence in
the change of
landscape
Acceptance of
the wildness of
new England
“It will be cold where
you are going” Yes.
Direct Speech
Truncated Sentences
Dialogue
Mundane
conversation
Prophetic tone – unknown
persona – sense of
foreboding
She refers to QLDs summer
as ‘extravagance’
Landscape is
beautiful –
current
Queensland
Smelling steam-scented Alliteration Prolonged part of youth and
life
She contrasts the
house, built by
people (human),
with the stony
ridge, the
mountains and
the trees in New
England that she
loves
The old house rustles
like constantly turning
pages
Simile Represents the passing of
time and change. A sense of
vulnerability
The landscape
can cause a
change in people
and their ideas
A stony ridge lay waiting
for me to know it
Personification Landscape providing comfort
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 13 of 29
People have
connections to
the landscape
and she may
have felt tired
due to this
I hall light fires Metaphor She struggles with aging –
fighting against age
Against the length of
winter
Metaphor Denying of aging –
determination to live and
strength of character
She is going to
embrace the
landscape
Small white-etched
trees leaning in leeward
gestures
Personification
Plethora
Vison of a colder
environment
Plethora of sound devices
Shows the
difference
between Mt
Tamborine (QLD)
and Baywood
Acid Vapour Imagery – of
breathing out smoke
Contrasting
young QLD
landscape with
primitive
landscape of
Braidwood
Beaute de diable Oxymoron (the devils
beauty)
Transcendent beauty of being
young, beauty of youth
Ambivalent nature of
summer – good and bad
Landscape will
win over the
season
The snow-winds snip
you (Summer) to a
root’s endurance
Metaphor… Summer in Braidwood will be
shorter
Won’t be lush but will be
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 14 of 29
more delicate and less
intrusive than the fertile
jungle summers in Qld
Beauty in a
landscape is
dependent on
the eye of the
beholder – every
person sees
beauty
differently.
Cutting back fleshy
stems, smelling steam-
scented gardenias, I
think of winter
Dichotomy
Contrast
Despite summer imagery she
uses, it causes her to long for
winter
In this poem JW imagines what it would be like to move from a very warm climate in QLD to
a much harsher and colder climate in Bradwood. Even though she loves her tropical climate
(summer – extravagance) she is willing to embrace an unfamiliar and intimidating
environment. “A stony ridge lay waiting for me to know it”. Though her thought processes
she then thinks about summer in a negative way “I tired now”. In the very last stanza, she
acknowledges that a new landscape will do her good.
This poem is about Wrights moving from Tamborine Mountain in QLD to Braidwood
in NSW, near Canberra – big move in terms of climate
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 15 of 29
For New England:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
Different
landscapes cause
disillusion in
people
Fighting the foreign
wind
Alliteration Not only are the trees awkward but so
are the people – out of place
F sounds are defensive
The wind is foreign because it comes
and goes – it is not of her landscape,
but rather attacking it
The persona feels
connected to both
landscapes
Therefore I find in me
the double tree
Metaphor She is part of the North and the South –
Part of Nature
She both watches the landscape and is
a part of the landscape
Connection to the
growing of the
land
Then will my land
turn sweetly from
the plough
Metaphor The land is being allowed to grow up
from the ground naturally
This is important to Judith as she was an
Environmentalist
There is a harsh
reality of the
landscape
Be done with the
black north, Harsh
horizon rimmed with
drought
Alliteration She does not like the hot humidity of
QLD and wishes to be back in the cold
landscape that she loves
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 16 of 29
Landscapes are
intricately linked
Web of streamers Metaphor Even though people are spreading and
moving to new places, there is still a
connection through past, heritage and
culture
There is a link
between the
persona and
Ulysses, who
travelled around
Where’s home,
Ulysses?
Allusion
Apostrophe
He was a great traveller
She is suggesting that what happened
to him could happen to her
Her description of his journey is
negative, disrespectful even
He did return to his beloved Icatha but
all had changed and time had defeated
him
Landscape can be
perceived as
harsh and
nourishing
The house closed in
with sycamore and
chestnut – fighting
the foreign wind
Dichotomy
Alliteration
of the
harshness
Despite the delusion and difference, the
wind is blowing in one direction
Not used to the wind as it is an
introduced species
Landscape makes
her who she is
All the hills gathered
waters feed my seas
who am the
swimmer and the
mountain river
Both swimmer and river – landscape is
in her identity
She is both the subject and the object
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 17 of 29
People can have a
connection with
landscapes and
people
Many roads meet
here
Metaphor Conflict between 2 different things –
she belongs to two different things
Peoples identity
can be portrayed
by landscapes
Swarthy native and
homesick
Juxtaposition Both kinds of trees are personified to
give an emotional, human quality to
their representation in the poem
Wright addresses
the land she loves
as though it is a
character or
persona
Then will my land
turn sweetly from
the plough and all my
pastures rise as
green as spring
Metaphor The many different landscapes she has
experienced
Use of first person
language conveys
her sense of
intimacy with the
landscape
Wind blow through
me
Metaphor She feels apart of the landscape
The poem verges
into a stream-of-
consciousness
But look, oh look, the
gothic tree’s on fire
with Blown galahs
and fuming with wild
wings
Alliteration The w sound softening the overall
image of the birds fuming on fire.
Wright is writing from QLD about the place of her childhood, New England in NSW
Metaphysical experience – “roads meet here/here in me”
The new England landscape has had a profound influence on her life, she also
acknowledges all the other landscapes she has experienced – “Many roads met here in me”,
shows the significance of all landscapes
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 18 of 29
“All my pastures” refer to the pleasure she has derived from the many different
environment she has experienced in her life
South of My Days:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
The landscape
can be
Dominating and
can consume an
individual
Hungry country
Clean Lean
Personification
Accumulation
Wild and Chaotic landscape
Men trying to
survive in the
inhospitable
landscape
The walls draw into the
warmth
Personification Relief from the landscape is only
temporary
Landscapes can
affect people
differently
Seventy years are hived
in him like old honey
simile Conveys the image of the summer
being like a hive, integral to him,
and warming like the sight and smell
of old honey
Difficulty of
conquering
/settling in the
landscape
The old roof cracks its
joints
Personification Effects of the weather on the
environment on their attempts to
find shelter
Attitude or style
House is a living being
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 19 of 29
Men trying to
survive
Slung kettle hisses Onomatopoeia
Aural imagery
Conveys the cold and bitterness and
the attempts to find warmth
Landscape is
alive and
another
character –
History and
narrative of
landscape
Tell another yarn Colloquialism Conveying a sense of the voice of
the old Dan
He represents the pastoralists
How the land
offers
sustenance
Hived in him like old
honey
Simile
Reoccurring
motive of bees
Warm, affectionate, admirable tone
Environment
has a great
strength
The mud hardened like
iron
Metaphor They are trapped by the physical
world – the land tells them when
they can or cannot go – trapped by
metaphorical mud
And the rivers were dust Metaphor
Paradox
Drought
Beautiful and
terrifying
Cracks like a whip Simile
Onomatopoeia
Colonial stories are not accurate
(fading memories) – wants our
attention to move us back into the
present sharply
Struggle of the
native
landscape to
assert its
Full of old stories that
still go walking in my
sleep
Allusion Haunting, guilt, stories – dominance
– Aboriginal dreamtime allusion
Sleep may be suggestive of death, or
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 20 of 29
presence
against intrusive
English imports
at least absence – country and
stories go on even when the human
poet does not
Time outside
the present
South of my days Figurative
language
Nostalgic for the past – past was
cruel
Even though she doesn’t see this
place a lot, it is still very important
to her
European and
Australian
images come
together,
capturing the
struggle
between two
cultures
Part of my bloods
country
metaphor Aboriginal phrasing about the
connection to the land – indigenous
presence which is absent from the
rest of the poem
Here blood is used metaphorically
to indicate the life force or the
human spirit – unity with the
landscape
Fragility of the
landscape
Delicate outline Personification
This was written when she lived in Queensland and she was recalling her beloved
New England home
He tells of droughts and blizzards, of bushrangers and his connection with them. In a
particularly effective image Wright compares old Dan’s stories to a pack of conjurors cards,
selected at random and not necessarily accurate
The end of the poem is somewhat ambiguous, as the poet addresses old Dan
directly, advising him to wait as “the yarns are over” and “no one is listening”. This suggests
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 21 of 29
that things are changing, that the old ways are being changed by the new. Never the less the
poet knows this landscape and its stories that make up the stuff of her dreams
When we consider the relationship between people and landscape, we must
consider the one between the poet and the environment as well as the one between the
characters within the poem and the place that is being described
In this poem Judith Wright evokes a very strong sense of the landscape, and the way
the landscape impacts on the people who live in it. She admits that it is out of the “circle” of
her regular life, but it remains “part of her bloods country”. The connection she feels is
indicated by associating the landscape with her blood, and this is reinforced in the final part
of the poem when she says “the old stories that still go walking in my sleep” – The
landscape dominates her dreams
She evokes strongly a sense of that landscape, particularly its harsh winters and its
bleakness, showing us that landscape does not need to be conventionally attractive to make
an impact on people.
She personifies “that table land”, emphasising the bleakness as it is “wincing under
the winter”
“The old cottage” continuing the personification “lurches in for shelter, his walls
draw into the warmth”
Assonance emphasises the inhospitable nature of this landscape, it is “clean, lean,
hungry country”. Compound words, “leaf silenced”, “willow choked” assists her in conveying
an impression of the landscape. Finally contrast is employed to highlight the severity of “the
bony slopes”, so extreme is it that it is hard to believe “that summer will turn up again
someday in a wave of rambler roses”
Having established for us the nature of the landscape, the poet then focuses on Old
Dan, a person who copes with the in hospitable environment by remembering stories and
reliving them to comfort himself in the cold. Two images emphasise the degree of comfort
her achieves: they are “a blanket against the writer” and “they are hived in him like old
honey”
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 22 of 29
Flame Tree in a Quarry:
Point Evidence Technique Effect
Man’s
negative
impact on the
environment
Broken…. Stripped…
Wrecked
Negative
Connotations
Accumulation
adjectives
Heightened sense of emotion sense of
destruction man reeks
Flame Tree in a
Quarry
Contrast
Juxtaposition
Flaming tree is alive
Quarry is lifeless
Nature is
quenchless
Bush of blood… old
cry
Alliteration
Visual imagery
Shows resilient life force which is also
quite ancient – being seen as a magical
poem – resurrection and life – death
and ruin
Left for dead Personification Land has been exploited
Nature
endures, dies
and lives –
Cannot be
stopped
Made flesh…. I drink
you
Out of the very
wound
Allusion Biblical – Support renewal and a new
life
Takes on a spiritual dimension with the
biblical allusion to the act of
communion
Wound = Damage that has been done
to landscape
Nature cannot
be destroyed –
power will
always return
Scarlet breath Metaphor
Personifications
Blood and blood is a force
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
Page 23 of 29
Pleasure of
nature – life
force
Fountain of hot joy Metaphor
Figurative
language imagery
Tree – physically
Renewal and Rebirth – Metaphysically
(beyond the physical, spiritual
reflection on the landscape)
Two sides of
life and death
– renewal
Living ghost Oxymoron
Paradox
Represents the now paradoxical nature
of the poem in that we are presented
with images of death and destruction
but they are overcome by new life and
rejuvenation
Man’s
negative
impact on the
world around
them
Out of the very
wound
Metaphor Emphasising the way that man destroys
the environment and hurts it
Native will
return and
reclaim and
take over the
quarry
Flesh of the world’s
delight
Personification Her love is the land is an intensely
spiritual one which she not only
conveys in her poetry but in the way
she supported the conservation of the
environment
Admiration
Breath … Death Breath represents flame tree
Death is how to interfere with the
natural landscape
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Meditation on Judith Wrights emotional response – prayer, hymn (spiritual element)
– Metaphysical realm of spiritual reflection
In the poem the vison of this free flowering in an apparently barren landscape
triggers off the poets metaphysical projection She observes the physical object, empathises
with it and the tree becomes the symbol of life fiery spirit defeating an uncongenial
environment
The flame-tree is a deciduous tree that has rich red bell shaped flower all over it in
spring
Wright introduces both the colour of the flowers on the tree and the fact that nature
is in her blood by using the words ‘bush of blood’
The last stanza returns to the original contradictory image of the vibrant red tree and
the barren quarry. She uses three different images to try to express what it is that springs up
‘Out of every wound’, ‘this scarlet breath’, ‘this fountain of hot joy’ and ‘this living ghost of
death’. She is unable to reconcile these forces, continuing the ambivalence in which the
poem began
Juxtaposing:
Death and life
Natural and Manmade (Flame tree and Quarry)
Time (Past and Present)
Emotional response (gloomy and passionate)
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Island Home
Point Evidence Technique Effect
Nature can be both
ruthless and nurturing
Rock wallabies “lie
curved against one
another” with their
“pooled head to
haunch in a rest that
seems regal, even
holy”
Figurative language
Visual imagery
Conveys the nurturing
aspect of the
landscape, with the
reoccurring references
to royalty and holiness
The land is cherished “Like an ancient,
priestly castle keeping
vigil even in death”
Holy Allusion This is highlighted with
the epithets “ancient”
and “priestly”
The landscape can be
ruthless
Rock wallabies having
been “decimated by
foxes”
Negative Connotations Destruction of both
the rock wallabies and
the landscape they
were occupying
Ruthlessness of the
landscape
“Dark mouth of the
cave”
Foreshadowing Appears ominous but
offers a sort of
sanctuary
Landscape does not
always provide
“There is no
suggestion of water
anywhere, but yet
everything he sees
“has been formed by
torrents”
Irony
Significance of
landscape to the
Felt the place speak
into him, with its
Accumulation The land speaks to
him, as it is a part of
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persona – Western
Australia
rhythms, its dangers
and its strange
sustenance
him
The land makes up
who we are
Sees the landscape as
alive
High Modality He sees the landscape
as a being
The landscape creates
a sense of
claustrophobia
“black sky down and
around our ears”
“black slates and
white chimney”
Motif of colour Suggests or creates a
sense of
claustrophobia
Significance of the
landscape to him
Longing for “his
Australian life and the
wild spaces that made
it possible”
Paean The landscape makes
up who he is
HSC English – Advanced – MODULE C – Representation & Texts – Study Notes – Judith Wright
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Love Song
Point Evidence Technique Effect
The landscape can
make individuals feel
calm
The creek sang them a
song that trickled
through a crack in
time
Personification WE understand the
boys love of the
landscape
Landscapes can make
an individual feel
more at home than
with people
One day go to a place
where the river bends,
and there I shall sing
for you
Motif of river The boy does not like
being human, so he
escapes to the
landscape to feel
more himself
Landscapes can be
beautiful and
nourishing
When spring swells
the river, a whirlpool
sings against the
canyon. A girl stands
at the canyon rim and
listens to the
simplicity of a river
carving itself to the
sea.
She smiles at the
innocent song of the
water and rock, of the
wind and wings, of lips
and breath, of death
Imagery
Juxtaposition – Death
and life
Contrasts the beauty
of the landscape the
boy believes and what
she believes that it
isn’t,
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swirled into life, again
and again."
Landscapes can be
perceived in different
ways
A human has a human
body, and walks the
earth in human ways
High Modality This is the foundation
of the girl's beliefs,
and the opposite of
the boys wants. The
girl is content in a
human body, acting in
human ways, whereas
the boy wants more.
He craves to be
anything but human.
Landscapes can create
someone’s identity
“into a form of a
human, of a coyote, a
bird, a rock, the wind”
Cumulative listing The boy wants to find
his inner peace by
becoming his spiritual
self
People can become at
one with the
landscape
And as night falls, he
travels with planets
freed from orbits.
Finally and at last, he
is everything.
Irony
Extended Metaphor -
Didactic
Situational irony,
because the boy’s
death is unexpected.
The boy was unhappy
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Representations of people and landscapes
The landscape runs through all of Judith Wright’s poetry. Her relationship with the
landscape is deeply personal, psychological, spiritual and metaphysical
Personal and metaphysical:
There is unity between the poet and the landscape in ‘South of my days’ – ‘my
bloods country’ they are all one