Gwen Harwood Analysis

Monday, 2 September 2019 9:38 PM

The Violets:
- Overall themes: Nostalgia, Memories, Mortality, Existential Angst
- Emphasised motif of violets: olfactory imagery that directly ties in the poem's 'present' and
'past'
- Quotes:
○ "I kneel to pick frail melancholy flowers among the ashes and loam"
▪ Ashes and loam represent the duality and contrast of life and death,
▪ Kneel to pick frail melancholy flowers seems to allude towards the act of
reminiscing towards the persona's "frail melancholy memories" (the flowers
representing the memories), which may not be melancholy as of themselves, but
are so as the result of nostalgia
▪ The act of picking the flowers from the ashes and loam seem to imply that these
memories are all that remains in the wake of life and death,
○ "used my tears to scold the thing that I could not grasp or name that, while I slept, had
been stolen from me"
▪ Describes the inherent frustration that, while logically unexplainable, does have an
inherent existence, sheerly for the sake of it
▪ The thing that had been stolen is likely to be time, or more specifically, the time
that the persona has felt to have slipped away, along with those she holds dear
(her parents)
▪ The depiction of the time having been stolen during the persona's sleep seems to
indicate the persona's lack of awareness towards this limited time, or rather, lack
of understanding towards the significance of the time she has left with the people
she cares about
○ "years cannot move, nor death's disorienting scale, distort those lamplit presences"
▪ Lamplit presences represent the fleeting childhood, and maybe overall lifetime
memories of the persona; this metaphor is likely used to represent the nature of
our memories being fleeting and inconsistent; similar to that of a lamp flame
▪ This also seems to highlight the persona's acknowledgement that their past
memories are influenced by their current self's perception of them, and therefore,
can be used as a reflection of both past and present stages of their lives
▪ Implies that in the end, regardless of the passage of time or the approaching
inevitability of death, the author is content with the memories she has, and finds
comfort in them

At Mornington:
- Overall themes: Mortality, Memories, Acceptance, Passing of time, Childhood naivety
- Constant motif of water: passage of time, something that is tangible in the metaphysical
sense(?), can be shared and experienced with others
- Quotes:
○ "And indeed I remember believing as a child, I could walk on water - the next wave, the
next wave - it was only a matter of balance"
▪ Depicts the persona's more immature outlook on the passage of time as a child,
where they believed it was simply a 'matter of balance' in order to resist this
unstoppable force
▪ Also used to depict the sense of 'immortality' one feels at an earlier age, where
more existential issues are pushed aside as just another obstacle in life; rather
than what the author later realises to perhaps be one of the meanings of life itself
○ "so it seemed the vines were rising to flourish the fruits of the earth above their humble
station in airy defiance of nature - a parable of myself" (weak - it basically explains itself)
▪ The growth of the pumpkin vines towards the light is a reflection of one's personal

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 ▪ The growth of the pumpkin vines towards the light is a reflection of one's personal
journey from the start of their existence towards the 'light' that the persona
believes would be found at the end, and is a celebration of the memories made by
the persona (represented by the 'fruits of the earth') in direct opposition to the
passage of time (represented by 'in airy defiance of nature')
▪ This is proved directly by the persona stating that the metaphor of pumpkin vines
is a 'parable of myself', followed directly by stating the parallels between their
lives and the pumpkin metaphor
○ "with a pitcher of water between us, and stayed for a whole day talking, and drinking
the water. Then, as night fell, you said "There is still some water left over." We have one
day, only one, but more than enough to refresh us"
▪ The water is a simple metaphor for the passage of time, which the persona
expresses as something that is best shared with a friend
▪ PERSONAL THEORY: The act of "talking, and drinking the water", depicts both as
two separate actions that can't overlap; perhaps implying that 'talking', whether it
be literal interaction between two parties, or even the exchange of memories and
experiences, is something that can temporarily halt the passage of time, at least in
the eyes of the persona
▪ PERSONAL THEORY: When the persona refers to the other party saying there is
only 'some water left', followed by the persona directly stating that there is 'one
day, only one, but more than enough to refresh us', they are directly tying in the
last amounts of water as well as the last day as the same thing, rather than the last
day being the day spent drinking water with the friend; as can be seen in the
change in indentation, which breaks the connection to the physical day depicted
by the persona - the implications of this being that this last day spent with the
friend to be more than enough, having built up the 'value' of this relationship, not
only through that one day, but also through their entire lives, making the inherent
mortality of both characters less significant
○ "when I am seized at last and rolled in one grinding race of dreams, pain, memories, love
and grief, from which no hand will save me, the peace of this day will shine like light on
the face of waters that bear me away for ever."
▪ The motif of water is used again in order to represent how the flow of time itself
can be a representation of mortality that will eventually 'bear me away for ever'
▪ 'one grinding race of dreams, pain, memories, love and grief', seem to represent
the experience of 'life flashing before your eyes' (weak - has no influence on
anything)
▪ The 'light on the face of the waters' can be seen as the persona's meaning of
existence, comprised of their relationship with their friend, as well as others,
potentially, as the sole remainder of their existence as their physical life is 'beared
away' by time
▪ The persona's acceptance of their approaching mortality can be seen as a
subversion of the power of death, since death, which is assumed to completely
erase our existence, fails to erase what remains of our memories/impact

Prize Giving:
- Overall themes: Subversion of power, 'traditional' vs 'modernity', feminism, self-actualisation
- Quotes:
○ "Academic dress became him, as he knew. When he appeared the girls whirred with an
insect nervousness, the Head in humbler black flapped round and steered her guest,
superb in silk and fur, with ride to the best seat"
▪ This quote serves to exemplify the arrogancy of Eisenbart, and serves as a
comparison point to his usual interactions with others
▪ The depiction of the girls whirring in 'insect nervousness' as well as the head's
sycophantic behaviour diminishes their characters
○ "But underneath a light (no accident of seating, he felt sure), with titian hair one girl sat
grinning at him, her hand bent under her chin in mockery of his own."
▪ The emphases of 'no accident of seating, he felt sure' in parentheses are used to

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 ▪ The emphases of 'no accident of seating, he felt sure' in parentheses are used to
not only convey and confirm Eisenbart's extreme misconceptions about the THG
and her intentions, but they also help establish the mindset of Eisenbart
throughout the rest of the poem to the reader
▪ The THG's behaviour of mocking the actions of Eisenbart represent a subversion of
power in multiple aspects; feminism vs patriarchy, modernism vs traditionalism,
and (modernism???) vs academic
○ "peered into a trophy which suspended his image upside down: a sage fool trapped by
music in a copper net of hair."
▪ This final bit of imagery seems to depict some level of self-actualisation in
Eisenbart; through what is implied to be his own eyes, his reflection appears as
that of a 'sage fool', as a result of not only his actions and interpretations, but also
of his character as a whole
▪ The metaphor seems to directly indicate the 'entrapment' of Eisenbart under the
coincidental 'agency' of the THG

The Glass Jar:

- Overall themes: Childhood naivety, Inability to understand, Lack of self-actualisation (?), Fear
of the unknown
- Motifs: Religious imagery used to represent child's innocence and faith, glass jar is used to
represent the child's hope and faith, which diminishes as the poem progresses
- Quotes:
○ "A child one summer's evening soaked a glass jar in the reeling sun hoping to keep,
when day was done and all the sun's disciples cloaked"
▪ This poem depicts a similar type of naivety as 'At Mornington's persona as a child,
both believing in their own sense of 'childhood immortality', where they consider
their worries as something that can be overcome easily; they also parallel as both
characters appear to change over time, as they grow out of their misconceptions
regarding their values, whether this change is forceful or self-actualized
▪ The child believes that he can 'capture' the sunlight in the jar, alleviating his fears
that appear during the night
▪ Serves as a metaphor for the starting point of the child's faith and hope, which
deteriorates over the course of the night
○ "his comforter lay in his rival's fast embrace and faithless would not her face from the
gross violence done to her. Love's proud executants played from a score no child could
read or realize."
▪ The child misinterprets, or rather, cannot understand, the sexual interactions of
his parents, which he assumes to be a form of gross violence; further exemplified
by being depicted as 'a score no child could read or realize'
▪ In this quote, the child loses his last source of hope; he views his mother
(comforter) as being one to agree to the 'gross violence' inflicted by his father,
who he views as a rival towards his own hope, who he then perceives as being
aligned with his own inner demons
○ "As ravening birds began their song the resurrected sun, whose long triumph through
flower-brushed fields would fill night's gulfs and hungers, came to wink and laugh"
▪ Strong religious imagery in the depiction of 'the resurrected sun', a clear illusion to
Jesus, the biblical son of God, who was resurrected 3 days after his death. This, as
well as the quote stating 'long triumph through flower-brushed fields would fill
night's gulfs and hungers', also allude to the biblical purpose of Jesus' crucifixion,
that being a 'long triumph' against the eternal chains of humanity, sin.
▪ The depiction of the sun coming to 'wink and laugh', as well as the connotations of
the sun, seem to indicate the events over which the boy has lost his hope and faith
are relatively trivial, and, in the end, should have been dismissed lightly
▪ The 'ravening birds who began their song' can be representative of death, or
more likely, negative events (bad juju) that are commonly associated with black
birds, with them beginning their song likely indicating the beginning of the true
loss of the boy's childhood innocence/hope.

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loss of the boy's childhood innocence/hope.

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