Change
Change is an inevitable process, however it can cause feelings such as regret and loss, thus many people would prefer life to stay unchanged. This can be seen through the Gwen Harwood poems, "In the Park" and "Father and Child", one describing a woman feeling miserable and tied down by her children and other describing the heartbreak associated with growing older and understanding life and death. From the BOS booklet, the poem "The Door", urges those who avoid change to embrace it. The book "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath, shows negative effects on a young woman's life due to her inability to change as her life does. The movie "Twin Falls Idaho" examines the feelings of Siamese twins who are forced to make an agonizing separation when one of them becomes too weak to live. "In The Park" by Gwen Harwood describes a woman with her children who sees an old lover and through his reaction recognizes that her life has not turned out the way she had planned. In this text the changes that have taken place are not welcome, the woman is bitter and full of regret.Structure is significant to the poem's meaning; its sonnet form shows the discrepancy between what she says and how things really are. The first two stanzas observe the depressing
Symbolism also presents life as positive, symbolised by light and seeing while death is symbolised by darkness. However the fact that the author is trying to persuade others to take on change does convey that there are many people who would prefer that their lives stayed constant. Vivid imagery is used to express Esther's situation. In the second stanza the enjambment of " the picture /of a picture" makes this image more appealing as the first line seems simple but when the next line is read it becomes more complex, what is a picture of a picture? This image symbolises that what seems like something at first glance may turn out to be something else entirely and again shows the responder the many possibilities of change. However, she has not really changed to adapt to the real world, just become comfortable once again in a sheltered environment. Change has negative effects and although it is unavoidable, there are those who wish that life was a constant and things never changed. In "Nightfall" she is older and wiser but still wishes that death was not real "as if death had no power/or were no more than a sleep". This contrasts to a shot when Blake and Francis attend a Halloween party on the "one night of the year they can be normal" and witness people dressed up a Siamese twins separating as it is too hard to be stuck together. The woman's miserable life and her feelings of regret are shown through imagery. The imperative "Go and open the door" is gently persuading and its repetition at the beginning of each stanza shows the importance of this request. Light is used as a symbol of life and aging in the poem. This novel conveys the feeling that Esther would have preferred life to remain unchanged. The poet recognises the fears that people have about change and slowly eases them. In the first poem "Barn Owl", a young Harwood kills an owl and learns what death is like face to face, while in "Nightfall "she is grown up and carrying for her father who is soon to die and while this death is more gentle, it is far more painful. The use of "maybe" in the first to stanzas gently tempts the reader to think of the many possibilities that could lie outside the door.
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Acceptance Essays
