Gwen Harwood Essay

Gwen Harwoods rime is truly powerful for its ability to suspense the social conventions of its time, positioning the reader to see things in invigorated ways. During the 1960s, a wave of feminism swept across Australian society, challenging the controlling old ideologies of the time. Gwen Harwoods poems Burning Sappho and Suburban Sonnet are two texts that quarrel the rife image of the happy, gentle, but in conclusion subservient housewife.Instead, Burning Sappho is powerful in constructing the catch as violent to rule in the restraints placed on her by society, whilst Suburban Sonnet addresses the mental have-to doe with of the female genders confinement to the agnatic and domestic sphere. Harwood employs a range of dustup and structural devices in order to criticise the unimaginative repress roles of the female gender. Thus Harwood encourages the modern reader to perceive Australian social structures differently and hence reject the inequitable role of women in moder n society.Structure is used in many of Harwoods poems to challenge the dominant perception of the happy, caring mother. In Suburban sonnet, the structure is (obviously) the sonnet, two four line stanzas followed by a six-line stanza. This choice is deliberate as the traditional romanticised love poem jars against the reality presented in the poem. Similarly, Burning Sappho challenges the dominant stomps of the time however, rather than a sonnet, the poems structure is also relevant to the poems criticisms, thus revealing a duality in the mothers actions and inner thoughts.Throughout the day, the mother is forever interrupted by her supposed duties and roles. Scandals and Pregnancies mediates that the women (a kind friend) talk, however the subject of the conversation presents a typecast of stereotypical gossip, therefore positioning the reader to perceive their conversation as lacking substance. In contrast to this stereotype however, the personas thoughts are deeply personal and challenging to the reader. Vivid resourcefulness of a heller grin(ning) and stick(ing) her child with pins conflicts with the stereotype of the loving mother.Instead, the alliteration of pours prussic acid presents sharp diction to emphasise the concept of madness in regards to the mother. As a outgrowth, the reader is positioned to reassess the image of the caring, gentle mother, instead seeing the resulting emotionally repressed women as a direct reaction to the constraints placed on her gender. Language and imagery plays a dramatic role in portraying kinships and feelings/thoughts of the persona.Whilst in Burning Sappho, the mothers attitude towards tasks is depicted as emotionless (the child is fed, the dishes are washed, the clothes are ironed and aired,), language is utilised at bottom Suburban Sonnet to construct the mothers mental state and situation as dire. savor and Love drain out with soapy water. The use of two personal, passionate adjectives and the depiction of them being physically overcome by soapy water directly link the mothers loss of feelings and ardent emotion to the household chores and duties.For example, she scours crusted milk, as a part of her role as mother and housewife as the reader is positioned to reject this requirement as a result of the huge impact to her quality of life (Veins ache). The literal image of a dead mouse symbolises the mothers situation as the soft corpse directly represents the mother, that is, emotionally dead as a result of the entrapment by society.The reader is positioned to fully sympathise with the mother in her repressed position and thus question the stereotypical contented mother figure that is compartmentalised to the domestic sphere of Patriarchal society. Both poems send word that their forced social roles of women as mothers and housewives come at the cost of career opportunities and personal aspirations. Music and writing, in particular, are significant, as Harwood believed they played an integral part in emotions and peace of the mind. She practices a fugue though it can matter to no one not whether she plays well or not. The fugue in musical theater terms is a piece of repetitive writing that is utilised by Harwood to suggest a body of monotony and recurrence. As well as this, the negative alliteration of the words, No, not and now can be linked to the repression of the mothers ability to play the piano. The persona is depicted as a sincere pianist within the poem, reflecting Harwoods own skills on the instrument.However, due to her femininity, the persona is unable to stick to her career. Similarly, in Burning Sappho, the repetition of the persona writing (I pick up my pen and start to release) across the four stanzas emphasises the mothers need for creative and emotional release. The construction of the children in both poems is also instrumental in representing the social expectation of the home mother, rather than worker. In Suburban Sonnet, imagery col lusive with the children such as Chattering and then screaming is very stressful and negative.In contrast, the diction and language in Burning Sappho is shocking to the reader as the poem not only depicts a very difficult child in contrast to the stereotypical innocent construction, but the mothers relationship with her is fragmented Something like hatred forks between my child and me. Clear negative diction is used to challenge these stereotypes of the mother/child relationship, therefore challenging the views of society, which dictate that women must look after their children rather than pursue a career.Through the use of poetic structure and language in Burning Sappho and Suburban Sonnet, Gwen Harwood challenges established patriarchal ideas in regards to the domestic sphere of women as housewives and mothers. Her powerful voice and rhetoric is key to her argument and thence I am positioned to readdress my perception of these particular groups in society, sympathising with the restriction of gender roles and therefore challenging the gain ground implementation of them on Australian Society.