Gwen Harwood (1920-1995) was born and educated in Brisbane; she was one of Australia's greatest lyric poets. She began writing poetry in 1950. In this time, men were still dominant, and only very few women entered the work force. Gwen's poems are based on her Christian beliefs and society's beliefs. However, Gwen did not just follow the strict social rules, instead of challenging the beliefs towards motherhood and many other issues of the time. She also wrote some stories and critical essays. Now, it's my pleasure to present and analyse one of her well-known poem Father and Child.
The poem Father and Child is actually made up by two poems in narrative style; it tells the story of a young child whose journey from total innocence to the brutal death is the major thematic concern. Because it is made by two parts of poem, we can easily compare these two and also to understand how author portray the difference perspective in these two poems. .
Barn Owl is the first part of this poem; it describes the understanding of a child's inner world. Harwood sets the poem in the point of view of the child as it allows the audience to into the child's thought and emotions. When the child says, "Let him dream of a child obedient, angle-mild" which in the poem represents the child is trying to against her father's order and acts as individual. As the child is aware that while its father is "robbed of power by sleep", he is the one in control. The use of the metaphor "Master of life and death, a wisp haired judge" describes the power that the child has hold in form of the gun. Harwood uses visual and smell image to make the hunt of the owl effective and really. "I stood holding my breath, in urine-scented hay" the use of smell image allows the audience to visualise the smell of the old barn, and feel as thought they are standing beside the child. "Beating his only wing, as I watched, afraid" Harwood uses the strong image of the dying owl to emphasise the child's shock and disbelief of death.