Hey, i was wandering if someone could please have a look at my tutorial...i plan on starting by giving some context of what happened around the period it was made- and does anyone have any ideas on how to make it more like a tutorial? i was gonna ask questions from the audience...but i'm not entirely sure what and which to do; however at this stage it is pretty much just an oral. It's on the poem Australia by A.D.Hope
During the period between 1930s-1970s, Australian poet A. D. Hope, compiled a book with his poems, called “Collected Poems’. Amongst that collection was the poem Australia, though the exact date Australia was written is unknown. Within the 7 stanzas of Australia, Hope presents a very negative view of the country, Australia, through the exploration of the spiritual poverty that Australia is ostensibly subject to. Hope describes the ‘nation’ as ‘drab and desolate’, indicating that Australia is a monstrous, dreary place. This, on a side note, is very interesting as it was very recently in the 40s, that Australia had just established it’s image and nationality to the world through it’s involvement in World War 1. Thus the poem becomes a juxtaposition of societies’ view of Australia; national and international, versus the patriarchal stance of the writer.
Each stanza consists of a four line-rhyming scheme of ABBA, which enhances the easy reading aspect of the poem. This is very clearly seen through the word –endings of the first stanza, ‘grey-wars-paws-away’. This form of rhyming scheme would have been very important in a poem such as this, to allow for an easier acceptance of a poem that clearly be-little’s Australia.
Hope then couple’s this rhyming scheme with the use of imagery, to further enhance his idea of the bleakness of the nation. Through derogative language including ‘drab green’, and ‘desolate grey’, Hope divulges the insipidness of the landscape. Words such as these present ideas of dull-ness, already in the first lines notioning audiences to view Australia through this new lens. The phrase give a sense of grouping in Australia, generally this grouping could have been taken through a positive association to Australia’s mateship, however, Hope ensures the negative view of this phrase through the deliberate use of ‘monotonous’, hereby presenting the repetitive and tedious aspect of the nation he lives in. Through this mere phrase, Hope hastily destroys any individuality present in Australia, defining it as a place were all tribes, or people, are the same. Presenting an image in his audience’s minds of similarity to the extent that it is almost unbearable and should be frowned upon. This also greatly contradicts the image of multi-culturalism Australia had begun to build. This line likens itself to a proceeding line, ‘field uniform of modern wars’, where everything is in a strict uniform, a uniform of dull coloring; in shades of grey and green. Colors symbolically used by the Australian military to fade into the background. An idea Hope is equating to Australia, by stripping the land of her uniqueness, and individuality.
Hope then examines this imagery further through the further enhancement of this viewpoint. The Alliterated ‘drab green, desolate grey and ‘last of lands’, provide this extra notion, pushing audiences to view the nation through the author’s eyes. This alliteration enhances the hard ‘d’ and ‘g’ sounds that provide the dreary aspect of Australia. Hope goes as far to describe it as ‘the emptiest’. As well as this, the sibilance of ‘savage and scarlet’ reveals the authors despise towards the nations identity, as all words used in description are of a cruel nature. The tone of the poem is mocking and through the use of a metaphor Hope made when implying the abstract ‘human-like’ qualities by referring to Australia as she; he also mocks culture, history, land and the Australian way of life.
Through the use of personification, Hope further accentuates his viewpoint of Australia. He begins by referring Australia to ‘her, in the line ‘they call her a young country’, speaking of the country like one speaks of a woman. However Australia isn’t portrayed angelically or full of life, and ‘Australia’ becomes the criticism of the Australian culture, and land. Hope states, ‘they call her a young country, a women beyond her change in life, a breast still tender but within the womb is dry’. Through this powerful statement Hope declares Australia’s, or this ‘woman’s’ inability to bear and raise children, not questioning the ability of her to raise them healthy, but outright denying her ability to bear the at all. This personification is translated to a country, giving audiences the idea that Hope believes that the land is barren and un-fit to sustain life. This personification further supports Hope’s claim when he states, ‘She is the last of lands, the emptiest; within the womb dry, without songs, architecture and history. Hope portrays Australia, a woman as a series of disappointments; she was supposed to be able to bear children, she failed; she was supposed to be one of culture and amusement, rich in history; again, she failed. This mainly occurs during the first 5 stanzas, as ‘she’ is portrayed as a series of absences. Hope tells audiences that those who come to live in Australia pride themselves not of living, but ‘merely surviveing’. Through likening the country to a woman, Hope portrays her in an excessively negative light, successfully degrading any image and reputation the country had been building.
Hope’s lines carry them selves heavily with negative images. In the first stanza, Hope likens the country to being like a ‘Sphinx’, in the line, ‘those endless outstretched paws of Sphinx demolished or stone lion worn away’. The Sphinx was a predominant figure in Egyptian culture, a figure possessing the body of a lion and the head of a man. Symbolically, the Sphinx is a representation in Egyptian mythology of strength and wisdom. This comparison could be directly related to the author’s vision of Australia. The Sphinx was once new and un-affected by time, seen as a creature of great wisdom. However, through describing the figure as ‘demolished’ and ‘worn away’, Hope presents the idea that Australia’s reach and realm of intelligence, power and greatness has too, ‘worn away’. Hope suggests that Australia used to be better, more new, like the Sphinx, however now the old reputation has gone, and the country is wilting under the effects of time.
Australia to him is devoid of culture. Hope, as previously mentioned, describes her as without songs, architecture and history. Her rivers, are described as of ‘immense stupidity’ in the line rivers of water drown among inland sands, The river of her immense stupidity.’ Though Hope believes that the country has no culture or heritage, he believes it has the capability to do so; except the ideas ‘drown among inland sands’. It is here Hope, not only attacks Australia’s culture, but also degrades the intelligence of it’s inhabitants; describing them as with ‘immense stupidity’. As Australia was originally thought of as the place Britain sent the convicts, the author puts foreword a notion that the people who come here are not happy or happily entering a new country. Instead, that they are, ‘second-hand Europeans’ on ‘alien shores’. Even the word ‘alien’ adds to the negative connotation of the poem. Describing Australia as some out-cast and un-known land. As it is common behavior for people to withdraw from the unknown; Hope utilizes the word alien to create a hesitation towards Australia. The proceeding lines to this indicate Hope’s view that Australia once was great. Hope states ‘drains her, a vast parasite robber state’. Hope sees people as a drain upon the country, and presents the new-comers as parasite- like, taking all good from the country and thus diminishing it to it’s current ‘drab and desolate state’. Furthermore, the phrase ‘second-hand- Europeans’, successfully diminishes Australia’s international image, as the author describes it’s inhabitants as ‘second hand’. The idea of an item being ‘second hand’ carries itself heavily with negative connotation. Symbolically, second hand items are given to those that are poor and needy; an idea, which relates itself to Hope’s idea of a ‘barren’ and ‘monotonous’ land. In Hope’s view, Australia is un-deserving of new items, rather having to settle for those from Europe. Hope insults Australia’s inhabitants through this negative language, in the process also degrading it’s mother country, England, in an attempt to belittle all with even a small relation to Australia.
i haven't done a conclusion yet
but thank you so much in advance
and i'd really appreciate any thoughts
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