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

Through a critical study of Gwen Harwoods poetry, the responders personal result has a signifi stomacht mental picture on their sound judgement towards her poetry. In The Sharpness of final stage, Harwood explores the inexplicable link between heart and cobblers sound, as well as the value of memories in result to the inevitable flitting of measure. Similarly in At Mornington, Harwood accentuates the value of appreciating breeding to overpower death and the splendor of memories to lessen the effect of time handout. These aspects, which reoccur end-to-end Harwoods poetry be universal, timeless, and prevalent to human existence and society. As a result, Harwoods poetry has been able to endure change contexts and lodge to captive and create meaning for readers. The varying interpretations of Harwoods work captivate the judgement of responders to both the individual verses, and Harwoods poetry as a whole.The Sharpness of Death explores differing perspectives on death and its irrefutable link with life, encourage modern-day readers to question their value of death and develop a judgement on the poem and Harwoods poetry as a whole. circumstances one 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 redbrick responders atomic number 18 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 complex logic, highlights the futility of this act, suggesting that death cannot be explained, entirely experienced. This challenges the value of attempting to understand death for the responder as even those considered the virtually intelligent living, cannot provide sufficient answers. As the poem continues, the importance of life, kinda than explanations, to overc ome death is explored.The 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, needs to be apprehended and understood in order to come to terms with the shadower that comes later death. Thefinal tell of the poem returns screen to low gear person, giving the poem a cyclical spirit, common in Harwoods poetry. This depicts to audiences the cyclical nature of life and the subsequent inevitability of death. In the final two lines of the poem,If I fall from that time, then set your teeth in me, the negative mental rangery depicts the personas view that only when she has lost the fulfillment that comes with life, volition she be able to accept death. This creates a positive judgement for the responder, delineation that their fear of death can subside if their life has been lived with joy. The exploration of the federation between life and death throughout The Sharpness of Death, encourages responders to challenge their light on the radio link between to two.The rejoinder of audiences towards The Sharpness of Death, brings up questions in relation to the value of remembrance in response to the passing of time, needfully impacting upon the judgement of the contemporary reader. In the second part of the poem, I apprehend he found some light beyond that field of scurrilous 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 b privation flowers is juxtaposed by the description of the Nasturitums in part troika of the poem, Purest of colours, how they shone. The allegory 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 like a awful visitor stayed with us briefly and moved on, emphasises the power of memories which often snuff it as time goes on.This encourages the contemporary reader to consider what their prominent memories are and thus, consider how their perception of them has changed over time. The rhetorical question, How would you ever k straightaway me nowunless I brought these flowers, enhances the idea 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 pe ople 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 bulky 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 under stand of death. In conjunction with this, the simile, was caught by a wave and trilled like a doll among rattling shells, suggests the powerlessness of the persona to fake her direction in life, at a stage where there was no understanding of death. This model has been experienced by an array of responders, and thus impacts upon their nous to a large extent. The metaphor which Harwood uses to describe the graveyard the persona is standing in, avenues o f 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 focused 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 go over us, the repetition of one highlights the power of even a small part of life being able to assist in overcoming the struggle that public opinion 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 sculpt 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, alluring readers to do the same. Water is used as a powerful motivation throughout the poem, highlighting the personas acceptance of the inevitability of death, in particular, w aters 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 reposition of her early childhood where she leapt from her bewilders 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 applicable to their lives. The high modality to describe her memory of believing she could walk on water, Indeed 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 topic 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 silence 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 attached with them. In the final stanza, the metaphor, rolled in one grinding race of dreams, pain, memories, love and grief, highlights that memories are attache d to varying emotions and are apart of the race that is life, where the inevitable end is death. This causes readers to consider the importance of the varying memories within their life, to make the journey to the end worthwhile. Through the tasting 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.