Request to a Year - Judith Wright Flashcards
Who does Judith Wright write about?
Her great-great grandmother.
What can ‘petticoats’ be metaphors for?
- Societal expectations for women in the Victorian times
- They were stiff and not appropriate for play and normal activities
What were societal expectations for women in the Victorian era?
- To be a mother above all.
- To not devote oneself to ones art/passion
Who was Judith Wright?
An Australian activist poet.
She experienced sexism as a poet and was called a ‘shrew’ by a fellow poet in a published review of her writing.
How might the phrase difficult distance be deemed ambiguous?
- On one hand, it could be seen literally as the GG grandmother was physically too far away to help her son as she was sat high on a rock.
- On the other hand, it could be seen as a metaphor for how she cannot relate to her son as he is a boy and she is a woman and in that time there are different rules and expectations for them.
What do the
grandmother‘s actions
suggest about her opinion
of her kids?
She has raised them to be self-sufficient and strong. She believes they can take care of themselves and if they get hurt it is their fault.
What is the rhyme scheme for the first five stanzas?
Free verse.
What are the last two lines called?
A couplet.
What is the first big idea in this poem?
1) The poem explores society’s expectations of women in the Victorian era.
What is the second big idea in this poem?
2) It challenges how readers expect ‘heroes’ to behave.
What is the third big idea in this poem?
3) The poem outlines the way women often have to make difficult choices.
What is the fourth big idea in this poem?
4) The poem encourages us to consider whether we judge the mother for making the difficult choice - does this make us realise that we do judge women for the choices they make?
What is the fifth big idea in this poem?
5) The poem explores the strength and determination of the GGGmother to forge her own identity and role as an artist.
What is the sixth big idea in the poem?
6) The speaker is grateful for the role model that her GGGmother was and for the way that this is encapsulated within the art that has been passed down to her as a gift.
When was the poem set?
The Victorian era.
