The poem I will be analysing today is In the Area written by Gwen Harwood. Gwen Harwood was an Australian poet. She was created in Taringa, Queensland and was brought up in Brisbane. Harwood's poetry always targets motherhood and the stifled role of women, particularly those of young mothers. In the Park handles the feelings of motherhood - especially those feelings which can be negative in dynamics and challenge traditional perceptions. The dominant reading of the poem is the fact that for certain women motherhood can be considered a burden. Sometimes whenever a woman's life mainly revolves around caring for her children, her sense of worthy of is devalued. In her representations of the theme of motherhood and family, Harwood utilizes subject material, discourses and poetic devices to test traditional perceptions and make her statements more powerful.
Paragraph 1
The major subject material of the poem can be an event in the life of a mother. Whilst taking her children to the area, she encounters an ex-lover plus they discuss how their lives have progressed. The discussion is short and they discuss her children, however, this is a superficial dialog and Harwood suggests that the person spends his time thanking God that he did not wrap up with the girl and her children and, as he departs, she suggests to no one in particular that her children 'have eaten [her] alive'. This is of this declaration is that the choices the girl has designed for her life have all revolved around her children. As the man departs, she returns to her imprisonment of a life with the kids.
Harwood illustrates that the fact that the mother no longer lives the same life she used to have. "Her clothes are out of date" suggests the mother only wears or uses old things this means she does not have enough time or money to enjoy a good life. "They have got eaten me alive" constructs the key communication of the poem that because this woman no longer living her own life but instead is a martyr to her children. They have got life by 'eating' hers. The topic subject of the poem is therefore the negative aspects of motherhood and family life.
Paragraph 2
The major build of the poem is pessimistic because Harwood desires to demonstrate that after a woman makes a decision to become a mother, many sacrifices are created, one being the identification that she got in culture prior to having children. The poem shows this in the line: "Her clothes are out to date", which illustrates that the woman in the park wears clothes that are not the most up to date fashion and demonstrates that a mother has no time to care for her own performances or even to enjoy any type of self-pampering, and her life is focused on her children. Her final statement shows that the items she explained to her ex-lover, such as: 'It's so nice to listen to their chatter, watch them develop and thrive, ' are falsehoods that she's rehearsed to influence herself among others that her life is not unpleasant. However, it is the final line which shows the reader that her life as a mother is monotonous and torturous.
Paragraph 3
Harwood's controlling notion of the negative areas of family and motherhood obstacle traditional prices and she positions the audience to accept these by privileging the mother's regret. By the end of the poem, the girl affirmation that her children have consumed her alive, suggests that she considers her children as parasites to be loathed alternatively than valued. This representation of any resentful mother is also made more robust by the fact that she actually is alert to her ex-lover's relief at not being captured in the same family environment. The reader is advised that: 'From his nice head unquestionably rises a tiny balloon' meaning his thoughts are as clear to her as a cartoon thought bubble rising above his head. He is happy that he hasn't resolved down with her. By having the woman's resentment and the man's comfort, Harwood does not value the family or the kids and the reader is put to see her as a victim.
This is also emphasised by the use of what "too overdue" at the end of the first stanza to put the readers to understand her thoughts about life. These two words build a vivid portrait of a female gripped with sadness and regret. She is no more the full of energy and attractive female; instead she selflessly devotes all her time for it to her family.
Paragraph 4
In the Playground uses poetic devices to great impact, and the most powerful of these is symbolism. The audience is shown the compare between your man's life and the woman's life and these are represented symbolically. For instance, in the first type of the poem "Her clothes are out of date" refer not just to her clothes but symbolically stand for the actual fact that she actually is losing pride in her appearance. The ex-lover's 'nice mind' may symbolically signify a popular haircut, and suggests that the woman isn't only unfashionably outfitted but unkempt and scruffy as well. The children's behavior also bears symbolic representations, because they are demanding frequent attention and hang up off of her like parasites who "whine", "bicker" and "tug her skirt". The reader can expect that the kids always act in this manner, the man is usually neat and trendy and the girl is not.
The 'small balloon' which goes up from his brain is a metaphor for his thoughts, that are obvious to the girl and make her realise how little worthwhile the man sees in her life. This is also strengthened by the fact that the writer uses personification in the 6th lines, when he claims states, "Time holds great surprises. " The word "time" is intangible; but is employed by the two characters to describe how their lives have diverted so far in one another.
The use of irony is also powerful in the poem, by further enhancing the reader's understanding of the personas' thoughts. The declaration in line ten and eleven, "It's so great to listen to their chatter, watch them expand and prosper" is refuted by this irony and makes her final statement very powerful indeed. She didn't want her old lover to notice her unhappy life, so she pretends to be happy, but privately admits that she is spiritually dead. In such a line, "they may have ingested me alive", Harwood uses hyperbole to show this woman is sick and tired of her life.
Conclusion
In final result, the poem "Within the Park", Gwen Harwood portrays a woman's sense to be smothered by her children. She is no more enjoying life and regrets the life she's chosen. Harwood wrote this poem with very simple composition techniques but it affords a fairly big impact which really helps to give an perception in to the life of an mother which bares the burdens of children. Alternately, "Sonnet 118" by William Shakespeare is a celebration of love which is a poem filled with promise at young love. It appears to love as the chance to begin a loving family, by using the metaphor of your day which appealing a beautiful summer months. However, Within the Park shows that such promise will not always deliver a beautiful summer. It is sometimes stifling and oppressive.
