Distinctly Visual- Henry Lawson (Notes)
Henry Lawson & Distinctly visual.
Context: Much of Lawson's work was set in the Australian bush or was about bush life. His characters reflect his personal experiences of the world during his time, focusing on 'real' characters who are down on their luck, women, children and roving workers.
At the time the bush somehow fascinated people because of its overall harshness and the people that survived there.
Lawson was from the bush, was brought up in bush poverty and suffered the hardships and unemployment.
His perspective is unique as it includes elements such as depression, loneliness, alcoholism and death in an unforgiving environment, something that was unusual at the time.
The Drover's Wife: the story begins with a detailed description of the house even including the simple materials used to build it. This tells us about the economic status of the possible inhabitants of the house. Assonance is used in this first paragraph as we see the repetition of the 's' sound. The effect of this is it create such as sound similar to the 'hissing' of a snake which we are yet to discover.
The story conveys the sense of an entire life in a few pages. This impression is communicated through her flashbacks which serve to develop her stoicism and resolve.
Techniques-
▪present tense and third person narrative allows the imaginative 'seeing' of the situation described.
▪Descriptive vocabulary and clichés such as "castles in the air" heighten the visual effect and serve to exaggerate the extreme nature of the family's life and environment. Harsh descriptions such as "stunted rotten.. trees" and "ragged, dried-up.. children" further add to this effect.
▪Hyperboles and sarcasm such as "bush with no horizon" , "nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization-a shanty on the main road" are used to depict the harsh landscape that the drovers wife has to survive in.
▪Repetition of words such as 'bush' and 'no'.
Quotes:
"Bush all around, bush with no
Context: Much of Lawson's work was set in the Australian bush or was about bush life. His characters reflect his personal experiences of the world during his time, focusing on 'real' characters who are down on their luck, women, children and roving workers.
At the time the bush somehow fascinated people because of its overall harshness and the people that survived there.
Lawson was from the bush, was brought up in bush poverty and suffered the hardships and unemployment.
His perspective is unique as it includes elements such as depression, loneliness, alcoholism and death in an unforgiving environment, something that was unusual at the time.
The Drover's Wife: the story begins with a detailed description of the house even including the simple materials used to build it. This tells us about the economic status of the possible inhabitants of the house. Assonance is used in this first paragraph as we see the repetition of the 's' sound. The effect of this is it create such as sound similar to the 'hissing' of a snake which we are yet to discover.
The story conveys the sense of an entire life in a few pages. This impression is communicated through her flashbacks which serve to develop her stoicism and resolve.
Techniques-
▪present tense and third person narrative allows the imaginative 'seeing' of the situation described.
▪Descriptive vocabulary and clichés such as "castles in the air" heighten the visual effect and serve to exaggerate the extreme nature of the family's life and environment. Harsh descriptions such as "stunted rotten.. trees" and "ragged, dried-up.. children" further add to this effect.
▪Hyperboles and sarcasm such as "bush with no horizon" , "nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization-a shanty on the main road" are used to depict the harsh landscape that the drovers wife has to survive in.
▪Repetition of words such as 'bush' and 'no'.
Quotes:
"Bush all around, bush with no