Gwen Harwood

To what extent does your response to ‘Father and Child’ inform your judgement of this poem and Harwood’s poetry as a whole? (In your essay refer to at least one other poem)
For a true appreciation of the sanctity of life and for true spiritual maturation, an individual must accept and come to terms with the frail mortality of human life. Harwood's poetry uses truly harrowing language to convey how her own personal experiences and relationships have led her to an enlightened state of being, with continual use of religious metaphor and allusion to convey her enriched spirituality. One of her poems that shows this is, At Mornington, is a reflection of her life, from her early childhood experiences at the beach, to her present middle-aged self, by the graves of her parents. Another that examines this is Father and Child, which is in two separate sections, the first depicting her initial confrontation with death as a child and the second conveying her acceptance of mortality when she is forced to part ways with her dying father. Life is a fleeting and impermanent state that must be treated with an almost religious sanctity in preserving and protecting it. In Father and Child, Harwood uses the innocent and protected narrative voice of a child to convey the distressing emotions she experiences while watching the pain and suffering of a barn owl, and her shock when witnessing the true nature of death. This is shown in the recurring accumulation of graphic, morbid imagery of the owl as "this obscene bundle of stuff that dropped, and dribbled through loose straw, tangling in bowels…". This confrontation leads her into a self-discovery of her own brutality (in the metaphor "eyes… mirror my cruelty") and the need to preserve life. It also develops her mental and spiritual maturation while coming to terms with the transience of life.

Experiences and relationships can also shape one’s appreciation of life and understanding of the nature of death. This is shown in part