Unit Suitable For
-Year 12 (Literature Unit 3)
Themes
change, creativity, dreams, friendship, Language, Life, love, memory, mortality, pain, philosophy, place, religion, the past
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Literacy
‘This chapter investigates Gwen Harwood’s subversion of gendered presumptions of authorship and style. After discussing her skilful redress of a male-dominant literary culture through hoax poetry, it considers how Harwood mobilised male personae to critique the cultural valuing of science and reason, explore sexual immorality, and address women’s experience of domesticity. It discusses how Harwood celebrated motherhood but was also one of the earliest writers to articulate its associated realities of exhaustion, loss of self, and feelings of despair and rage. The chapter argues that Harwood lays important groundwork for second-wave feminism while representing the ambiguities of care and connection. The chapter also engages with Harwood’s later exploration of death and the dynamic between sex and spirituality.’
Source: Abstract.
'Dray talks about Gwen Hardwood's poetry. To say that the poet Gwen Hardwood was a prolific writer early in her career would be a vast understatement; in truth she was several. Employing a number of artfully crafted personas, all with his or her own distinct style and agenda, Harwood became so deft at employing these masks that each existed long enough to be established as a new voice in Australian poetry before the revelation of their true identity dissolved them–occasionally with some ironic complication–back into her greater canon.' (Editor's abstract)
'Since its publication in 2003, the availability of Harwood’s Collected Poems 1943 – 1995 has allowed students and teachers to gain a deep understanding of her work, through the long view of its development over her life. Born in Brisbane in 1929, but living most of her adult life in Tasmania until her death in 1995, Harwood inhabited a number of identities that reflect the protean quality of her poetic personae. In the above quote, poet and critic John Kinsella describes the contradictions and surprises to be found in Harwood’s work, particularly its sometimes ‘savage’ manner and ‘horrific’ view of human nature. A famous example of these qualities is found in Harwood’s short poem, Suburban Sonnet.' (Introduction)
'Dray talks about Gwen Hardwood's poetry. To say that the poet Gwen Hardwood was a prolific writer early in her career would be a vast understatement; in truth she was several. Employing a number of artfully crafted personas, all with his or her own distinct style and agenda, Harwood became so deft at employing these masks that each existed long enough to be established as a new voice in Australian poetry before the revelation of their true identity dissolved them–occasionally with some ironic complication–back into her greater canon.' (Editor's abstract)
'Since its publication in 2003, the availability of Harwood’s Collected Poems 1943 – 1995 has allowed students and teachers to gain a deep understanding of her work, through the long view of its development over her life. Born in Brisbane in 1929, but living most of her adult life in Tasmania until her death in 1995, Harwood inhabited a number of identities that reflect the protean quality of her poetic personae. In the above quote, poet and critic John Kinsella describes the contradictions and surprises to be found in Harwood’s work, particularly its sometimes ‘savage’ manner and ‘horrific’ view of human nature. A famous example of these qualities is found in Harwood’s short poem, Suburban Sonnet.' (Introduction)
‘This chapter investigates Gwen Harwood’s subversion of gendered presumptions of authorship and style. After discussing her skilful redress of a male-dominant literary culture through hoax poetry, it considers how Harwood mobilised male personae to critique the cultural valuing of science and reason, explore sexual immorality, and address women’s experience of domesticity. It discusses how Harwood celebrated motherhood but was also one of the earliest writers to articulate its associated realities of exhaustion, loss of self, and feelings of despair and rage. The chapter argues that Harwood lays important groundwork for second-wave feminism while representing the ambiguities of care and connection. The chapter also engages with Harwood’s later exploration of death and the dynamic between sex and spirituality.’
Source: Abstract.
