What is the poem For New England by Judith Wright about?

[exhausted]

My assessment requires me to create a visual representation of the key ideas in one of her poems and I've chosen this one. I need to capture the overall tone, visually represent key notions in the poem and depict values that were significant to Judith Wright.

I have notes on the poem analysing the lines, but I still don't understand what it's about. The analysis of the lines make sense individually but once you piece it all together I just don't see what the main idea of the poem is.

[ssarahj]

My assessment requires me to create a visual representation of the key ideas in one of her poems and I've chosen this one. I need to capture the overall tone, visually represent key notions in the poem and depict values that were significant to Judith Wright.

I have notes on the poem analysing the lines, but I still don't understand what it's about. The analysis of the lines make sense individually but once you piece it all together I just don't see what the main idea of the poem is.

Hey there!

Funnily enough I did the exact same type of assessment with the exact same poem! For me, For New England really focuses on duality and this can be seen to run through the poem on two levels:

1. The duality of Judith Wright's identity since she has European heritage but her love of the New England Tablelands mirrors Indigenous beliefs and values.

2. Australia's history with the conflict and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. e.g. "the homesick" = European colonisation and "native" = Aboriginal Australians.

For my visual representation I focused on the imagery of the trees and galahs. My advice would be to take a few metaphors that you really connect with and then think about them in relation to the big picture ideas you want to get across. Feel free to run past more ideas on here if you need more assistance. Good luck! 😃

[exhausted]

What exactly is the idea around the trees and the galahs? I thought about doing my artwork around that too because of the great imagery. But then I realised that to me it doesn't really fit in with the poem, it seems like a random thing to put there so I don't get it.

[ssarahj]

What exactly is the idea around the trees and the galahs? I thought about doing my artwork around that too because of the great imagery. But then I realised that to me it doesn't really fit in with the poem, it seems like a random thing to put there so I don't get it.

The trees are definitely not random. The metaphor of the trees "the homesick and the swarthy native, blow all one way to me", embodies the whole duality thing I outlined before. With the line about the galahs: "But look, oh look, the Gothic tree's on fire with blown galahs, and fuming with wild wings". A Gothic tree is European and galahs are Australian birds, so it's a metaphor of the unity of European and Indigenous influences on Australia.

I've got a copy of my reflection statement somewhere that I can find tomorrow and post in the Notes section to help out as well 

[exhausted]

The trees are definitely not random. The metaphor of the trees "the homesick and the swarthy native, blow all one way to me", embodies the whole duality thing I outlined before. With the line about the galahs: "But look, oh look, the Gothic tree's on fire with blown galahs, and fuming with wild wings". A Gothic tree is European and galahs are Australian birds, so it's a metaphor of the unity of European and Indigenous influences on Australia.

I've got a copy of my reflection statement somewhere that I can find tomorrow and post in the Notes section to help out as well 

Ooo okay makes sense now. Thanks!

If you find it that would be really helpful!

[exhausted]

In the beginning of the poem she writes "And I remember" and talks about the memory of the house fighting the wind.
The scene with the Gothic tree, is that a memory too? These follow an ellipsis which makes me think it's more of a sudden change of thought, as in it's currently happening, than a memory but I'm not sure

[marz19]

Hi ssarahj, do you have the notes for this poem? I need some help analysing it in regards to gothic literature