Request To A Year Flashcards
Summary
-Judith Wright asks a year (as a gift) to have the attitude of her great-great-grandmother
-the poem tells an annecdote on the near-death of her g-g-g’s second son
-her g-g-g sketched the scene as it played out
Themes
-motherhood
-art
-gendre roles
-memory/time (long distance)
Form+structure
Free verse- contrasts restricted rules available to women in 19th century
Rhyming couplet at end- gives a sense of resolution & decision
Title ‘request to a year’
-a year personified as a charitable force, like a new years resolution
‘I should like it to be the attitude’
-‘should’ = formal diction
–>polite
–>lack of emotion bc they never met eachother
–>to give her importance + show respect = giving her the respect she never had
–>a bit tongue in cheek (half joking) bc she’s not really expecting the year to give her this
‘legendary devotee of the arts’
-‘legendary’ to her & her family + mythologised (exaggerated through generations)
-ironic bc g-g-g wasn’t even allowed to do art-works/join Royal Art Society
But she did overcome some gendre restrictions
‘Legendary devotee of the arts,
who, having eight children’
-pause between first & second stanza emphasizes contrast between potential vs reality
–> potential was her being a lengendary artist
–> reality was women in the1800s were used as a reproduction machine
‘And little opportunity of painting pictures’
plosives (alliteration of p):
- suggest an ironic tone
- mocking the idea of a female artist bc at that time people would have laughed
‘Sat one day on a high rock’
simbolizes
-high/noble perspective of an artist
-emotional distance bewteen her and her children (bc at the time, many children bc many died, mother child relationships weren’t as close)
‘And from a difficult distance viewed’
Harsh alliteration of ‘d’ emphasizes:
-dangerous nature of the distance
Verb choice ‘viewed’:
-suggests she is just looking (detached)
‘Her second son, balanced on a small ice-flow’
‘second daughter, impeded,
no doubt, by the petticoats of the day’
-‘Second son’ shows the emotional distance between the ggg and her children (does’t call tyem by first name)
-Juxtaposition of second son (wild + free) & daughter (restricted)
‘Petticoats’ –> restricted by dress & gendre norms
–> represent male gaze (corsett makes ideal body)
‘That struck rock-bottom eighty feet below’
Gulteral alliteration (harsh):
-reflects potential danger
-sharp/hard rocks bellow
-hints the power the second son would’ve hit the rocks
‘stretched out a last-hope alpenstock
(Which luckily later caught him on his way)’
Compound adjective + parenthesis:
-understates danger of the situation
Soft alliteration + upbeat rhythm:
-tongue in cheeck
-understates danger
‘Nothing, it was evident could be done’
Fronting of word ‘nothing’:
-emphasizes lack of control of ggg
-takes away blame of ggg
‘The sketch survives to prove the story by’
-sketch surviving is symbolic bc it is the legacy of artist which remains passed on
-verb choice ‘prove’ –>connotations of unbelievable
‘Year, if you have no Mother’s day present planned
reach back and bring me the firmness of her hand’
-‘Year’ apostrophe (teqnique of addressing an abstract thing) + peronification
emphasizes how much she needs what she’s asking for
-Suggests Wright (a mother herself) needs strength+art her ggg to combat her struggle w/ motherhood
-rhyming couplet gives a sense of resolution + decision
Context
-australian poet campaigner for women rights
-wrote this about her ggg & at her time:
+women not expected to work nor do art works
+rejected from institutions (royal arts society)
+lots of children at young age (high infant mortality rate)
Tone
-light-hearted (serious) undertones
+formal (conversational + lack of emotion) bc they never met each other
Enjambmentvthroughout first 4 stanzas
-mirrors flow of river
-to build up tension leading to the minal moment
