Gwen Harwood “Sharpness of Death” and “At Mornington” Essay

Through a critical theme of Gwen Harwoods poetry, the responders personal response has a prodigious effect on their vox populi towards her poetry. In The acuity of Death, Harwood explores the inexplicable touch on between life sentence and finish, as well as the shelter of memories in response to the inevitable passing of meter. Similarly in At Mornington, Harwood accentuates the pry of appreciating life to overwhelm remnant and the importance of memories to lessen the effects of time passing. These aspects, which reoccur finishedout Harwoods poetry atomic number 18 customary, timeless, and familiar to human existence and society. As a result, Harwoods poetry has been able to endure varying contexts and observe to captive and create meaning for readers. The varying interpretations of Harwoods work influence the judgement of responders to both the private rimes, and Harwoods poetry as a whole.The Sharpness of Death explores differing perspectives on dying and its i rrefutable link with life, encouraging contemporaneous readers to question their value of destruction and develop a judgement on the poem and Harwoods poetry as a whole. Part champion of the poem establishes the personas desire to bargain with death, through the demanding tone that is employ to address it, Leave me alone. For the contemporary reader, this highlights the desperation to evade death, something many modern responders ar able to identify with. As the poem continues, Harwood renders the philosophers attempts to undermine death through analysis, as meaningless. The use of the oxymoron confused logic, highlights the futility of this act, suggesting that death cannot be explained, but experienced. This challenges the value of attempting to understand death for the responder as even those considered the around intelligent living, cannot provide sufficient answers. As the poem continues, the importance of life, rather than explanations, to overcome death is explored.Th e personification of blossoms in the line, blossoms to hold the light thats gone, highlights for responders that the beauty of life, as represented by the blossoms, commands to be appreciated and understood in order to come to terms with the darkness that comes after death. The final examination component of the poem returns back to first person, gift the poem a cyclical nature, common in Harwoods poetry. This depicts to audiences the cyclical nature of life and the subsequent inevitableness of death. In the final two lines of the poem,If I choke from that time, then set your teeth in me, the negative imagery depicts the personas view that hardly when she has lost the fulfillment that comes with life, will she be able to absorb death. This creates a positive judgement for the responder, word picture that their fear of death can subside if their life has been lived with joy. The exploration of the connection between life and death end-to-end The Sharpness of Death, encourag es responders to challenge their perception on the connection between to two.The response of audiences towards The Sharpness of Death, brings up questions in relation to the value of memory in response to the passing of time, inevitably impacting upon the judgement of the contemporary reader. In the second part of the poem, I hope he found some light beyond that field of black everlasting flowers, the positive connotation of light highlights the power of memories in overcoming the darkness that is death. For responders, this leads them to accept that their memories are what will alleviate them from the effects of times passing. This image of black flowers is juxtaposed by the translation of the Nasturitums in part three of the poem, Purest of colours, how they shone. The metaphor of the flowers depicts the power of positive memories to overcome struggles that have been faced as time has progressed. The personification of light where Harwood says, light akin a noble visitor stayed with us concisely and moved on, emphasises the power of memories which often fade as time goes on.This encourages the contemporary reader to consider what their adult memories are and thus, consider how their perception of them has changed over time. The rhetorical question, How would you ever know me nowunless I brought these flowers, enhances the head that it is remembered past experiences which enable us to draw a connection between the past and present. For the contemporary reader, this accentuates the value of memories in appreciating life, a consistent theme of Harwoods throughout her poetry. The sexual imagery in the final part of the poem, my tongue sang with his juices, depicts the strong influence of memories in relation to love in giving power to accept death, when thepassing of time is over. This places death in perspective for responders, as being only one aspect of life, with memories and friendship enabling people to transcend it. Throughout The Sharpness of Death, Harwoods exploration of the power of memories in accordance with the passing of time influences the responders perception to a biggish extent.The connection between life and death is further accentuated through Harwoods poem, At Mornington, which, similarly to the The Sharpness of Death, challenges readers to develop a judgement towards this inexplicable connection. The first part of the poem depicts the fearlessness and uncertainty of childhood, deriving from a lack of understanding of death. In conjunction with this, the simile, was caught by a wave and rolled like a doll among rattling shells, suggests the powerlessness of the persona to control her direction in life, at a stage where there was no understanding of death. This concept has been experienced by an array of responders, and thus impacts upon their fantasy to a large extent. The metaphor which Harwood uses to describe the graveyard the persona is standing in, avenues of the dead, emphasises that everything in life is temporary, with death being the only definitive part. This asserts to the contemporary reader that death does not need to be rivet upon as it is certain. Therefore life which is temporary and changing, should be valued.In the second last stanza, We have one day, only one, but more than enough to refresh us, the repetition of one highlights the power of even a small part of life being able to assist in overcoming the struggle that thought of death places upon our existence. As the poem progresses, the persona is able to develop a changed perspective on death. The irony in the line, at your side among the graves I think of death no more, highlights the personas acceptance of the cycle of life as a result of the strong friendship they have developed, enticing readers to do the same. Water is used as a powerful motif throughout the poem, highlighting the personas acceptance of the inevitability of death, in particular, waters that bear me away forever. This encourages the contemporary reader to also accept this inevitability in order to appreciate their own life. The response of readers to the value of life in accepting death throughout At Mornington, has a significant impact upon their opinion as it is a concept that is universally experienced andunderstood.In accordance with The Sharpness of Death, Harwoods At Mornington, encourages audiences to develop a judgement in regards to the value of memories in response to the passing of time. The poem begins with Harwoods memory of her early childhood where she leapt from her experiences arms into the sea. The alliteration to introduce this, They told me, highlights her lack of personal memory of the uncertainty of her childhood and the need of others to reinforce this memory. For many responders, the uncertainty of their childhood was not realised until adulthood, allowing them to appreciate Harwoods poetry as relevant to their lives. The high modality to describe her memory of believing she could walk on water, In deed I remember, depicts the prominent memories of the innocent child. This brings responders to consider that while the memory of invincibility is strong, the sense of invincibility itself has been lost as time has progressed.The motif of water is also continued, this time referring to memories, on what flood are they borne. This metaphor highlights that memories are able to cross the boundaries of time, thus emphasising the importance of them to responders who are experiencing the effects of times passing. This motif is continued in the fourth stanza, There is still some water left over. This depicts to the contemporary reader that even when time seems to have reached its end, memories still retain the ability to bring back the sense of abatement connect with them. In the final stanza, the metaphor, rolled in one grinding race of dreams, pain, memories, love and grief, highlights that memories are link up to varying emotions and are apart of the race that is life, where the inev itable end is death. This causes readers to consider the importance of the varying memories inwardly their life, to make the journey to the end worthwhile. Through the appreciation of memories in response to times passing throughout At Mornington, responders are able to identify with Harwoods poetry and thus develop a significant association with it.Throughout Harwoods poetry, in particular, The Sharpness of Death and At Mornington, a variety of universal and timeless concepts are explored, sparking varying responses from responders. In both these poems, theconnection between life and death, and the value of memories in response to the passing of time is explored. This exploration by Harwood is one that can be related to by a variety of readers, influencing these readers to a large extent, to develop a judgement towards Harwoods poetry as a whole.