Peer Review – 2

What a great insight Dave, although I have already completed this 19th century unit I found a lot of things which were still interesting to me even now. Your particular knowledge of the paintings which you discussed had me immediately intrigued as I often have been known to see these days as apart of what we learn. But your connection to the works of Dickens and Fildes’ paintings had me interested to say the least, you brought out a connection which is hard to see without some background knowledge but even further bring out what you believed of the time. Thanks for that interesting turn when I was just scrolling through the list, but you made me pause which is not an easy thing to do!!

 

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/8743068/posts/985496134

Peer Review – 1

Awesome Nigel, I particularly like the insight into the horrors of man and what we can do unto each other. Even better when you show that those horrors that man commits we are so quick to either justify or deny those acts, which is one of those great flaws of the human condition. I particularly like your metaphor for the modern Australia trying to hide our sinister past.

Here’s the page I commented on:

https://nigelgrvs.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/week-3-niers-leap-new-england/

Mary Gilmore and her Eve Song

To first understand Dame Mary Gimore’s ‘Eve Song’ we must understand what this poem is about and her view of marriage in particular and the state of women at this stage in history. Throughout the initial parts of this poem it continually refers to the will of Man and how women are supposed to be subservient to Male whim. What must be understood is that during this time period, it was usual for a male to display infidelity to his wife. This reinforces the notion of discrimination that is conspicuous between both genders. This juxtaposition is highly effective not only in demonstrating the stark contrast, but also the irony of societal expectations.

A quote towards the end of the second stanza “That more than man was love and prize” accentuates that women can find more trust and safety in their children, than they can place with their spouses. This is disconcerting; as it poses the question to the reader, is marriage for happiness, or merely to keep up with social expectations.

Now focusing on the repetition of the line “I span and Eve span” accentuates the belief of this time and further reinforces the meaning behind her words. This was a display of how women are abused by men and women are at the beck and call of women at this time. It further displays the female role in her belief, where women must spin for their man almost needing to something to warrant their husbands attention and in turn this is to display all they do for their husbands.

Harpur and Kendall

When we speak of Kendall he often considered in conjunction with Harpur and there is justification in this, where we see Kendall clearly influenced by Harpur and his work. However we see that Kendall although the somewhat Protege of Harpur continually within his writing try to distance himself from Harpur, and place even more importance on his idea of originality:”He who originates, is the master; so is not the reproducer”. Although I could talk about the relationship between these two their writing displays much more about themselves than what I could say. Whilst we compare the two poems of A Midsummer Noon in the Australian Forest by Harpur and Bell Birds by Kendall we see a distinct difference between the two. It is interesting to consider that Harpur considers the silence in his environment and further looks at a scene in almost freeze frame taking in the softness and the pause in the busy world he is in so as to look at the beauty that might be marred by the fast paced environment. However when we look at Kendall we distinctly see that his mind is on the sound of the world which is rich and colourful with the birds singing and the notes glistening off the world about him, and Kendall finds beauty in the busy world and finds he writes of the wildlife instead of Harpur’s flora.

 

Week 3 – Australian Literature

Write a poem or piece of creative prose that expresses your sense of how we should “grow” our relationship to indigenous Australians?

Secluded

from

each other.

Europeans

and

Aborigines

separated.

Through our stories

of life and history

love and loss

Europeans,

and

Aborigines

may come closer.

Until

Aboriginals, and

Europeans

may grow together.

When the day comes

through stories of different lives.

Aboriginals and Europeans

will be on the same line.

NSW Art Gallery

Piguenit, W.C. The Upper Nepean. Sydney: N.p., 1889. Print.

Throughout my life I have lived within a variety of landscapes and have been fortunate enough to view the beauty in each. As a child, I was immersed within the lush serenity of the Blue Mountains, whilst my early teenage years I have known a different open landscape of the dairy fields in the Hawkesbury often playing rugby whilst the cows watched in interest. However, it is at this stage in my life, (my late teens) that I find myself within Penrith; a myriad of suburbs all branching off from one another, and this great Nepean river. And even now I find myself in an environment in Strathfield where I am using the train that comes half hourly to take me from Richmond into a much busier world I never knew from my experience in the open and almost country towns I have been used to.

Familiarity drew me to this painting by W.C Piguenit (1889), as within his rendering I found my definition of ‘home.’ The lack of light within the work emphasises the exotic and surreal nature of Australia at the time. The landscape was not a familiar set of tracks and roads to be crossed daily, but rather a limitless adventure. This is evident as the diagonal movement of the work (from right to left) evokes a sense of exploration and curiosity. Not only do the focal points of the mountains direct the audience, but the darker colour palette establishes caution. I believe that the murkiness of the River reminds viewers to remember the dangers of the bush and all that is waiting within. For me, that is what I remember when viewing this piece. All those encounters with snakes I had (and have), or the large bush rats that scarper when I lift their home.

 

Week 8

2/ ” I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalised figure of a sahib.”  Write a short paragraph explaining what you understand by this paragraph.

In this paragraph from Shooting an Elephant of George Orwell an understanding of loss and a statement on British colonisation can be seen. George displays an understanding of forced violence as the character must keep face so as to assist in the colonisation of Burma, for the main character to survive he must commit this atrocity so as to save face and to save himself and so it could be seen as a necessary evil (almost). Many would argue in this modern age that he needn’t have fired and that it was his fault  for the situation he was placed in, however I feel the understanding I take from this paragraph is humanities ability to find a situation and people find themselves where they think it is kill or be killed and it would be unfair to judge a person on the base glimpse we have of this person. What I further understand from this paragraph is perhaps looking too deep, however I push on, this quote of: “hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalised figure of a sahib” I believe in this quote we can see the mask we all put on through life, we all maintain this mask of calmness or one day we wear the mask of the leader or the student or the teacher swapping the mask each day or each hour so as to be seen as we want to be seen from different people we greet upon our life’s path, where in reality the turmoil or the erratic state of our mind is bubbling underneath the figure we portray and in this instance of Shooting an Elephant, Orwell’s character see’s what mask he must wear and understands that this mask does not fit him well and perhaps is fragile to the point where it may shatter the masks of others around him.

Week 5 – 20th Century Literature

1/ following the advice and example of Ezra Pound and his followers (eg HD) compose a few short imagist poems.

To be the Imagist Poet.

Do not deviate from the plot.
Make the use of words so few,
Don’t change the meaning of the word.
Yet offer the solution for all to see.

Do not write the breeze,
But tell it for what it is.
And see the wind in words,
As nothing more than speaking.

Do not waste.
And always show.
So as not to let the poetry flow.
Be the Imagist
not the poet.
You’re not to be the prophet.

Week 4 – 20th Century Literature

1/ Describe in your own words how reading and hearing the poets of the first world war has made you feel about war.

Poetry to me has always been a dangerous zone. Whether writing or reading poetry, I feel that I should always approach it with caution, its easy to be caught up in words and find yourself at the other end asking yourself “what just happened?”or “how did it get here?”. So the reading of the First World War poets, has me interacting with them in the way that they were intended to be read. Whether it be the patriotic propaganda of Rupert Brooke or the emotion of death through Charles Hamilton Sorely. These poets to me evoke the feelings I am supposed to be feeling whilst reading them, yet I am constantly aware of what the cost of war has brought. Whilst I feel it is right to say there need not have been such carnage, I still find myself thinking there was a need. There are horrors in the world and those that have faced death know these best, but they also know that the world has much to give. My views on war have changed often; to the points when I considered joining the army, to leading soldiers as an officer, to where I have looked at my parents as nurses, and valued showing people how to live over taking away another’s. War to me was the presence of death as I walked about the emergency department as a 10 year old. What I saw rolling in through those sliding doors, was the aftermath of what man could do to man. But the taking of life, even of an animal which I loved, and hearing its cries and feeling it struggle under your hand, trying desperately to end its misery, is something I will never forget, and something I see through the writing of these poems. War to me is a horror, but is also necessary, its just that there is still that struggle to end it.

Week 3 – Peer Review – Nigel

Nigel, I liked your insight into the idea of what we should be doing with our lives. However I felt the play was more about the fact of our mortality. From the first few scenes of the play, where Everyman is partying and is finally ‘greeted’ by death and told of his impending demise he is instantly filled with dread with questions of “why?” and “Its too soon for me to die.” I feel these first few scenes are the example of what all of man or ‘everyman’ reacts to when brought to the idea of death. I feel then that the constant theme of the play is not on what you say as a wasted life, but as they say in the play it is not about how you have lived but how you end. Towards the end of the play we see that Everyman finds humility, and through this humility his life has been redeemed of much of its sin, and so it is how you say that we should treasure life and the world about us, but still those who have lived a life of “sin” can be redeemed at their final hour, after all (this play originally all about church propaganda) forgiveness surpasses all.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts you gave me a new perspective on the play and its meaning.